Is Cross Stitch Still Dying? — 10 Years On Update Post

One of the most-read posts on this site is my “Is cross stitch dead?” one. It looks over 5 years from 2004 to 2015, showing the lofty heights of cross stitch’s most popular period in recent times, to its heavy reduction after the recession ended.
However, since then we’ve seen so much more happen in the cross stitch world. From magazines folding to major craft stores shutting their doors. So the question of “Is cross stitch dead?” once again comes up regularly on online communities.

But is it really as bad as it seems? I would argue that it really isn’t, and actually, cross stitch is getting its second wind.
 

The Trend Data

From the pandemic to the new normal

As you can see on the above graph, cross stitch searches on the likes of Google have fallen from the crazy highs back in 2004, but since then, we’ve stayed fairly consistent. There is, of course, the peak of the pandemic when we were all stuck at home stitching, but it’s a fairly flat graph.
So at first, I would totally understand you thinking this is bad news; but it’s not.

You see, the trend is actually going up since the pandemic, albeit slowly. But it’s what you don’t see here that really matters.

A 2019 study by The Handcraft Initiative¹ (Initiative-handarbeit) found that the total craft market volume decreased by more than 11% between 2014 and 2018¹. But we simply don’t see this in cross stitch. In fact, according to Etsy, searches for craft supplies increased 64% and searches for kits increased 221%. And several market research reports forecast continued growth in the global cross stitch market over the next decade, with estimated annual growth rates of roughly 4-5%.

That’s far from doom and gloom.

So Why Are People Worried?

Despite the boost in the overall market, at first glance, the cross stitch world does look a bit down. Anchor Threads sales slumped and were sold to DMC, XRX (a massive needlework event organiser) closed its doors, the super popular ThreadHeaven ceased production, and a whole raft of cross stitch magazines from major brands to independents stopped dead:

• The Cross Stitcher
• Cross Country Stitching
• Cross Stitch & Needlework
• Cross Stitch Crazy
• Cross Stitch Gold
• X Stitch Magazine
• Cross Stitch Collection

 

 
But once again, we’re missing something. This time, we need to think about those new stitchers.
Unlike traditional stitchers, this new cohourt, brought in from the pandemic, favour TikTok instead of printed magazines (Even if this does result in people often mistaking aida for water soluble fabric). They prefer buying independent patterns on Etsy instead of physical kits. They prefer to watch Twitch cross stitch streams instead of Flosstubes.
We’re not seeing the death of cross stitch, but instead we’re seeing it change.

Cross stitch went from “grandmother’s hobby” to genuinely cool

 

What Does The World Of Cross Stitch Look Like Now?

This is probably the most interesting point here. Cross stitch has changed, and many argue maybe not for the better. But it doesn’t matter if we think the overall hobby is changing, as there are communities out there that will always support us, will always find tools that we’ll use and want.
And this, in turn, is also being reflected in search.

That search bar from the start of the post doesn’t talk about the increases in specific searches.
Yes, “cross stitch” is searched much less often than in the recession and pandemic, but searches for specific tools are up 40%³, even my own DMC color chart gets over 140k monthly views (something that was unthinkable in 2016!), so we can see that the internet has changed the hobby already.

But that’s the thing; the history of cross stitch has always been one of peaks and dips, of men stitching then women, it being seen as a girls’ hobby and then a grannies’ hobby, and now, it being a truly online hobby.
 

 

So Is Cross Stitch Dead?

Nope. Not in the slightest. In fact, all evidence suggests that not only has it been increasing over the last 10 years, but the future looks very rosy for cross stitch.
 
 

References

1. Craft Industry Alliance write-up of Initiative Handarbeit report, 2019
2. Iniative Handarbeit craft innovations report from 2014 to 2019, 2019
3. Google Trends Dataset, 2026

Happy stitching,
Lord Libidan