When cross stitching came to The Sims 4 in 2021 it didn’t make any waves in the cross stitch world. But as a gaming fan, I thought I would give it a go, and find out why the cross stitch world just didn’t care its hobby was included in one of the biggest game series in the world.
To start, we need to say that to get cross stitch in your Sims 4 game, you’ll need the “Country Living” expansion. This adds a whole bunch of other items, tasks, and other fun too, but that’s where cross stitch was added.
To test out how good cross stitch really was in the game, I decided to recreate my old university halls, where I first came across cross stitch, and try to recreate my history with cross stitch so far, from an absolute beginner to addict, and finally to designer!
Technique
Let’s start with the factual part. Sims can cross stitch, and much like normal, they can even cross stitch on the toilet.
But bad hygiene aside, the stitching animation is actually great!
The sims push the needle through (which you can see), then grab the needle from the back, pull the thread tight, and repeat.
Sure, they never have to thread a needle, they never have to get new thread, they never have to consult a pattern, and they never have to snip a thread but they DO have to frog (more on that later).
Considering they needed to make a consistent stitching animation, it’s frankly almost perfect!
If the programmers had taken a little more time, they could have been perfect, which is a real shame.
What makes this even more annoying is that you have three hoop sizes, roughly 6 inches, 12 inches, and a massive 16 inches, based on the size of an average sim. The patterns simply get larger on each hoop, so there really was nothing stopping them from matching up the design to a stitch.
But, this is actually a nice little touch. People do stitch on different size hoops, and there are cost implications for larger hoops, etc that make this a little more realistic.
You can also change the hoop color, and style of hoop, meaning you can match the style of cross stitch hoop to your decor, how you’re feeling or just what you stitch with!
“All the finger pokes and tangled floss finally paid off! Just don’t look at the back.”
There is one other thing I wanted to pick up on before we go into some more specific things though. And that is wool.
All the cross stitch in the Sims 4 is done with wool, not cotton. Whilst this initially seems like a major oversight there is precedent for this. In fact, in the untold history of cross stitch we showed that it was only until the Victorian times that cotton was used for cross stitch, with wool being used before that.
It also works within the confines of the Sims 4 expansion. For some reason, you get lamas which you can sheer, and then use their wool for your cross stitch. So I have to give this one to them as an OK decision.
And, you can just “purchase” all the items needed to cross stitch, so you can pretend it’s cotton if you want!
Realism of Project Completion Time
When it comes to cross stitch, we can spend countless hours on a project. The Sims; do not.
This does make sense though!
The average sim life is 90 game days, which equates to roughly 1 year in human terms. Therefore, each cross stitch should take 1/70th of the time.
And it does!
In fact, I did the maths and it’s almost perfectly timed for the sim lifetime compared to how fast I could stitch a pattern up. Kudos for the authenticity!
But what about learning cross stitch? Well, 10,000 hours might make you a cross stitch master in real life, but with sims maxing out their 5 level cross stitch skill in roughly 10 cross stitches, it’s more like 1000 for them.
“So what if you had to unpick and re-stitch the same line 6 times? It’s done!”
Buying
So, now I’ve spoken about the technique, I can finally start on my sims cross stitch journey!
In real life, I picked up a cross stitch at a local haberdashery. The Sims don’t have these. But I do see a lot of cross stitch in garden centers (at least in England). And the sims do have these, in the form of village stalls. And you guessed it; that’s where cross stitch is sold! A great little tick in that box.
You can also purchase the tools needed directly from the buy menu, which is akin to online shopping, which is how a lot of us also found their first cross stitch too, but everything is there, so that doesn’t really count!
But, prices are a little weird.
The hoops go for $30 (sim dollars that is) which is a little high, and the rest of the items (including thread/wool) are 50 sim dollars. Whilst I could see you spending a bit for things like gold-plated cross stitch needles, there is just no way it should cost that much!
In Jokes/Knowledge
You can tell though, that the game designers at the very least spoke to cross stitchers, if not were cross stitchers themselves!
Firstly, they’ve selected patterns that could honestly be found in Etsy or any cross stitch store. Including a series of samplers, like this one that have sarky (for the Sims) phrases on them like “This Took Forever” (in Simlish; the sim language). So you can tell that someone looked at cross stitch patterns. 
They’ve also included a few phrases within the menu that refer to not only realistic things we’ve all done, but the feelings we have around cross stitch too:
“Maybe you should have tried a lower thread count.”
“So what if you had to unpick and re-stitch the same line 6 times? It’s done!”
“All the finger pokes and tangled floss finally paid off! Just don’t look at the back.”
They also have to frog! If you give up on a project, the sim won’t just bin it, but they’ll frog out all their stitches, which you can see in real-time (and get frustrated by!) leaving a blank frame.
Sure, they somehow get money back for this and reuse the aida and wool, but it’s a nice touch!
The final thing involves the back of the cross stitch. Now, I fully believe that the back of your cross stitch does not matter, and clearly, the sims coders think this too, as they’ve made a reference to “Just don’t look at the back.” However, the back of the cross stitches in the game is just the image reversed. A little disappointing.
Cross Stitch Patterns
OK, so we’ve spoken about getting started, but what is there to stitch? Well, there are a series of patterns you get by default, and you can get more through ‘errands’ in the game too.
All of the patterns are very sim-like, but as previously mentioned, they have cute references to cross stitch patterns in the real world, like a sampler, a sarky phrase, flower motifs around something, patterns of just something random (like cheese), so I think they’re great.
And others do too, as you can even purchase the Sims 4 cross stitch patterns on Etsy to stitch yourself.
I also love the way that you start with simple designs, like a rainbow or a pattern, before getting onto more complicated designs, and even all the way to the designing phase too!
This reflects how people slowly get more and more complicated designs as they get more skilled or more confident.
The hoop sizes also increase as you progress, with only the smallest available at first before you get to grips.
There are only 18 patterns, and they’re all the same style, but once you’ve got to the maximum level, you can make your own based on things in the real world, like images, people, patterns from wallpapers, etc.
Making Money
This is the point where you start making money (or you hope) with cross stitch. But can you actually make money with cross stitch?
In the real world; no.
In the sim world; also no!
Selling your completed cross stitch is next to impossible in the real world I’m afraid to say. Yes, you can make money with pattern designing, but not selling the cross stitch itself. This is also the same with the sims, however slightly differently.
In the sims, your cross stitch can be sold instantly, which is super unrealistic, but you only get between 1 and 10 sim dollars profit on any of the cross stitches. I think the idea here was to make cross stitch a hobby rather than a business, and I think they’ve done well here.
And it has been thought through quite well too. In the real world, small hooped projects are more likely to sell more than larger ones, and in the sims, they’ve reflected this by making small hooped projects sell for slightly more.
“Maybe you should have tried a lower thread count.”
Is it worth getting?
Honestly; yes!
If you like the Sims, it’s a great little addition to make it feel more real. The Sims 4 base game is free now, and the Country Living expansion is only about $20.
For me, even if it’s not accurate, it’s a no-brainer; now go make your sims cross stitch!
Happy stitching!
Lord Libidan