Book Review: Free Spirit Stitching

It’s so fun to combine different kinds of stitching in the same project. Free Spirit Stitching: 8 Vibrant and Colorful Stitching Adventures by Debra Valencia allows you to do just that.

These projects include cross stitch and embroidery techniques together to make projects with a different look with lots of texture and style.

The projects are:

The single-color Chic & Cozy Clutch, worked in cross stitch, stem stitch, French knots, blanket stitch and straight stitch
A boho paisley heart pillow, combining cross stitch with stem stitch, split stitch, chain stitch, satin stitch, straight stitch, French knots and eyelet stitch
The Summer Love tote bag, which features a giant cross stitched pastel peace sign surrounded by flowers and other motifs worked in stem, split, satin, straight stitch and blanket stitch, along with long and short stitch, seed stitch, backstitch and blanket stitch
The sweet love nest wall hanging, which uses muslin cutouts of birds embellished with embroidery and stitched on muslin; in addition to cross stitch it uses straight stitch, stem stitch, blanket stitch, French knots and lazy daisies
The beauty sleep door sign, probably the easiest project in the book, it’s mostly cross stitch with a touch of stem, satin and straight stitching, plus a rhinestone and fun trim for extra bling
An eyeglass case made of felt and embellished with cross stitch flowers with stem stitch, lazy daisy and French knot details (the case is also sewn with blanket stitch)
Cactus Garden hoop wall art, pictured on the cover, featuring cross stitched cacti with stem stitch, satin stitch, French knot and lazy daisy details
The love rainbow pillow, mostly worked in split stitch and long and short stitch, also has a cross stitch heart

Several of the patterns are rated for all skill levels, while a couple are intermediate. If you’re comfortable with basic embroidery techniques and transferring patterns, these are all great options to try. There are general instructions for the stitches included, and each pattern has a charted design as well as a photo of the finished project showing what to stitch where. This is helpful for working with cross stitch and embroidery at the same time.

If you like to cross stitch but haven’t done a lot of embroidery before or just haven’t mixed them in projects, this is a fun book to get you started thinking about how to combine different kinds of needlework that will inspire you to freestyle with different stitches more often.

Get the book here: Free Spirit Stitching: 8 Vibrant and Colorful Stitching Adventures

About the book: 64 pages, paperback, 8 patterns. Published 2019 by Leisure Arts. Suggested retail $12.99.

Next Pattern:

35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

I recently wrote a post on my blog about using a stitchable journal cover and I mentioned that you can make your own stitched cover for a journal by using perforated paper instead of buying a stitchable notebook.

I have to admit, though, that I’ve never used perforated paper for cross stitch myself. I definitely want to because I think it would be great to use for bookmarks that don’t fray and have a little more stability, for example.

Sirious Stitches has us covered, though, because they did a deep dive into all things perforated cross stitch pattern that is worth the time to read through.

The post mentions that a lot of people use perforated paper for cross stitch because they buy an ornament kit that uses it. I’ve never seen these (or at least never noticed that that is what they were) but it’s a great idea to make small projects like ornaments in this way. It also talks about the pros and cons of using cross stitch paper, where to buy it and how to make your own.

Making it yourself is an awesome idea because if you already have a pattern in mind you can just make holes in your paper where you need stitches to be and leave the rest solid. This would be ideal for making greeting cards, for example.

In addition to kits and sheets you can often find the paper pre-cut into different shapes you can use to make your own designs, no real pattern required.

The post also includes tips and advice for how to stitch on perforated paper that you’ll want to check out before you try your first project.

I’m super intrigued by the idea of using perforated paper for cross stitch and will probably be trying it out soon. Have you used it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out the post over at Sirious Stitches for more information.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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