Biscornu Cross Stitch Patterns

I’m always looking for different kinds of patterns to share with you all so I thought today it would be fun to dive into the world of biscornu cross stitch patterns.

If you’ve never heard of biscornu, or you’ve heard the word but don’t know what it means, it’s a pincushion that is stuffed and shaped out of two pieces of fabric (you could make them with sewing fabric, too, but they are popular as a cross stitch project). The finished design has five points and has a dent in the middle that might be embellished with a bead or button.

To me they kind of look like bagels.

If you want to try your hand at some biscornu, check out these patterns.

I love this selection of Nordic design biscornu cross stitch patterns from itaseCabinet. The pattern includes 12 different Scandinavian designs like classic stars and snowflakes. I love the white on red but you can use whatever colors you like. These all measure 40 by 40 stitches.

Atelier Pin and Needle has another cute Nordic designs with stars and geometric patterns. This one is 63 by 63 stitches and uses five colors.

The floral design on this one from Embroidery by Olga is really pretty and I love the sort of fall-like colors, though of course you can use whatever you like. It measures 65 by 65 stitches and I think it uses five colors.

The interlocking rainbow design on this one from Fireplace Hobby isn’t traditional but it is really pretty. It uses six colors (choose pastels or more saturated colors as you like) and measures 63 by 63 stitches.

The strawberry garden design from Pansies Stitch is 58 by 58 stitches and uses five colors. There are different designs for the top and bottom, and the listing also shows it worked on different colors (I love the pink background!). This shop has a lot of different biscornu cross stitch patterns if you want to browse.

Or you can make a biscornu for every month of the year with this set of patterns from Stitching Elf Store (just a few are shown here). These are 55 by 55 stitches and call for between 5 and 8 colors, depending on the design.

Several of these patterns note they don’t include assembly instructions, so if you need help with that, check out this video from Tiny Modernist.

Everything you want to know about biscornu [Needle Work]

Free Biscornu Embroidery Patterns and Charts to Stitch [Needle Work]

The cross stitcher behind the blog Sirious Stitches is quite into biscornu.

If you’re not, a quick primer: biscornu are three-dimensional cross-stitched objects with eight points, often with an indention in the middle that makes them look a bit like doughnuts without the hole. They can be just about any size and subject you can think of. They’re often used as pincushions but can also be seasonal decor or just decoration for any time of year.

I’ve got a collection of biscornu cross stitch patterns here.

Once you’ve stitched one or several (they are a little addicting) you might wonder what you can add to them to make them even more extra.

It very much depends on the design of your biscornu and the look you are going for, but Sirious Stitches has a great post all about some of the options you might consider.

I don’t want to give you the whole list because you need to go visit and see all of their great biscornu they’ve stitched, but one really easy thing that you can do with a lot of designs is take advantage of that center indent by adding a button, beads, silk flower or another embellishment.

This is great to do just with a basic button from your stash that coordinates with the design and colors of the cross stitching, but it’s extra fun if you have a button that’s on theme, such as a leaf for a fall biscornu or a flower shaped button for a floral design. Add a jingle bell to a Christmas pattern, or a charm if you don’t have a button that coordinates.

Just this one idea is sure to get you thinking about ways to embellish biscornu (not to mention other cross stitch projects) but head over to Sirious Stitches to see all of their ideas for embellishing biscornu to make these already fun projects even more fun.

Have you ever made biscornu? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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