About a month ago we spoke about why cross stitch alphabets are so hard to come by, and it got me thinking; that it really isn’t only alphabet patterns that are harder to come by now.
Back when I started cross stitch, there were literally hundreds of cross stitch websites offering thousands of free cross stitch patterns. In fact, that’s what allowed me to get into cross stitch in the first place.
But now… they’ve gone!
You can still find heaps of free cross stitch patterns on places like Pinterest, but long gone are curated lists and mega hosting of designs.
I honestly think this might be one of the main reasons why people wonder if cross stitch is dying, because resources like these are just so hard to find now.
This is far from the first time, though. Back when I started, one of the most prolific cross stitch designers was LittleMojo. They filled forums and websites with patterns covering video games, Harry Potter, and Disney. But, in one of the biggest mysteries of the cross stitch world, they disappeared, taking their bank of patterns with them.
We scoured the internet some ten years ago to pull all of LittleMojo’s patterns into one place just to save them.
And then there are our epic Pokemon cross stitch patterns, which, despite being synonymous with me, were designed by Servotron, a likewise reclusive cross stitch designer. We now host the patterns for posterity, but they aren’t ours.
So why is this new loss of patterns different?
In a word: money and gatekeepers.
We also recently posted about the death of cross stitch gatekeepers, and whilst there are loads of benefits to this, it also comes with some downsides.
One of those is the lack of cross stitch forums that offer massive banks of patterns that anyone can add to. Those gatekeepers made those resources available by paying for hosting, curating patterns, and spending their own time to create a resource they were proud of.
Sure, it also meant there were barriers, but quality patterns flowed like fine wine.
The second issue is one of money. Now, I don’t want to be unkind here; whilst we are talking about money, there is one really big issue with all those free cross stitch patterns: they were pretty much all infringing on copyrights.
In a world of AI cross stitch patterns, this has once again come to the forefront of cross stitch designers’ minds, but back in the “Wild West” of cross stitch, no one seemingly cared. For the better and worse…
Designers would create patterns of their favorite brands, games, anime, or media, and those media holders would either not care, or would actively promote the idea of this underground community.
But that doesn’t mean that all IP holders thought the same. As cross stitch moved into the mainstream, IP holders realised they could make a buck by publishing their own pattern books and getting rid of these free pattern repositories.
Likewise, cross stitch designers also moved to platforms like Etsy, creating stores for their own patterns. They could likewise make money from patterns they were previously making for free.
I don’t hate either group; after all, everyone deserves to make money from their designs and IP, but this is to say that the change impacted cross stitch in a massive way.
But this isn’t even an issue limited to cross stitch designs, but also cross stitch tools, to cross stitch magazines, and even cross stitch blogs. But a bigger issue in my mind is that whilst all these free cross stitch patterns are being deleted, the quality of cross stitch patterns is also falling.
Have we seen the heyday of cross stitch come to an end?
Happy stitching,
Lord Libidan
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I even remember more and various patterns offered in craft stores. You could buy very detailed patterns to spend months working on. Now, it seems, all there’s access to (at least in store) is very small patterns meant for a few hours’ with of time, or possibly a slightly more detailed one for something generic, like for a holiday or a nature scene. Definitely nothing like what was previously offered, though. It makes me really sad.