Designing a cross stitch pattern, or just getting more out of one you’ve bought, comes with its own set of skills separate from the stitching itself. This guide pulls together everything on the site about making, editing, buying, and working with patterns.
Every post tagged below covers some part of this topic, newest first. If you want a specific answer right away, start with the sections below.
You don’t need expensive software to get started designing your own patterns, though it helps once you’re serious about it.
How do I make cross stitch patterns is the place to start, and how to make your own cross stitch patterns without online tools is worth reading if you’d rather not rely on software at all. For a specific and popular project type, cross stitch portraits from photos covers turning a photo into a pattern.
A pattern rarely comes out right on the first attempt, whether you’re designing your own or adapting someone else’s. Small changes can make a big difference to how the finished piece looks.
Changing colors on a cross stitch pattern covers one of the most common edits, and how to make a cross stitch pattern perfect and what makes a perfect cross stitch pattern both dig into what separates a good pattern from a great one. Clever tricks to make cross stitch patterns pop rounds out the finishing touches.
Not every pattern for sale online is worth your money, and not every pattern is legally yours to stitch and share. Both are worth checking before you buy.
How to make sure you buy a quality cross stitch pattern covers the practical side, and how to make sure you buy a cross stitch pattern that isn’t copyrighted covers the side people think about far less often than they should.
Pattern size brings its own challenges at both extremes, whether you’re taking on something enormous or working at a scale that barely leaves room for a single stitch.
How to tackle epic cross stitch patterns covers the largest projects, and mini cross stitch designs covers the opposite end of the scale.
A growing pattern collection needs a system, otherwise you’ll end up buying the same pattern twice or losing track of what you actually own.
How to organize your cross stitch patterns covers the practical side of keeping a pattern collection under control.
When it comes to creating custom cross stitch gifts, personalized cross stitch portraits are often right at the bottom of the list. You don't get to keep them; they might not be appreciated, and in the worst cases, can be a bore to stitch. But it doesn't have to be that way. In fact, portrait…
Whilst we've been blogging about cross stitch for over 10 years now, we're mostly known for our epic Pokemon cross stitch, and for a long time, people have flocked to epic or large cross stitch projects that take 100s of hours to stitch. But recently, we've seen the opposite end of the scale: mini cross…
One of the most requested posts I'm asked for is simple; how to make a cross stitch pattern. And whilst we have gone over how to make cross stitch patterns using cross stitch software there are those that want to make patterns on paper. So today, we're going to talk about how to make a…
I'm a big fan of keeping your craft space neat, tidy and organized. At any time, you might just want to go through your kit to find that one item you brought 5 years ago and will get around to using. In the past we've covered how to store cross stitch threads, and went into…