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 epic cross stitch patterns, we have you covered. From the slightly smaller, but still epic Pokemon cross stitch pattern to the insanely huge Epic All Generations Pokemon cross stitch pattern. It should, therefore, be no surprise that we are often asked about how to tackle these behemoths. Be that how to…
With sites like Etsy pumping out cross stitch patterns by the thousands, finding a quality cross stitch pattern can be hard. We helpfully went over a few tips for making sure you get a good pattern, however one of those points was about copyright. Copyright in cross stitch is a massive issue, and if you…
I'm sure I'm not the only one to have a whole pile of cross stitch patterns that I've never started. In fact, some of them are over a decade old. The thing is, whilst these patterns are great, there's something slightly off with all of them. Now, I don't mean they've got something wrong on…
With websites like Etsy, eBay and a whole host of other sites selling cross stitch patterns, you could be fooled into thinking all of these cross stitch patterns are going to great to stitch. But the frank, and sometimes disappointing truth is that some, even most, are bad patterns. Whilst that might not seem too…