Book Review: My Cross Stitch Doll

Even as our kids’ lives get more saturated with technology, many kids still like playing with dolls and imagining worlds for them. Making a doll for a child is a lot of fun, and you can personalize them for the child’s style or interests.

My Cross Stitch Doll by Susan Bates includes charts for making 20 specific dolls, plus a mix and match section with other options (though of course you can mix and match charts from the main section, too).

The dolls are stitched on 28 count evenweave (equivalent to 14 count Aida, but a little easier to sew up when you’re done stitching) and use whole cross stitches and back stitch. There’s a chart for the front and the back of each doll, which are trimmed, sewn together and stuffed to make the dolls.

There’s a wide variety of options for dolls including a ballerina, a person dressed for playing in the snow, girls in pinafores or floral skirts, sportier clothes options like a vintage varsity jacket or joggers, one in pajamas, another in a dapper suit. Accessories like headbands, glasses, bracelets and a backpack could be altered or interchanged to make your own unique doll.

The mix and match section includes additional hairstyles, hats, tops, bottoms and shoes, along with tips for how to combine patterns whether you work from these or ones shown earlier in the book. You could even design your own once you have the dimensions of your doll.

A techniques section at the back of the book includes tips for cross stitching and finishing the dolls. There are a couple of diagrams showing stitching lines but no photos of the process, which might have been helpful for people who haven’t made 3-D cross stitch projects before.

My Cross Stitch Doll is a fun book that’s sure to get you thinking about how you could represent a loved one or yourself in cross-stitch form. Of course you can also just stitch a doll you like without it matching your personality. The book gives you lots of options and the confidence to design your own details if you want to.

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 20 patterns. Published 2024 by David & Charles, suggested retail price $24.99.

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

I don’t know why it still surprises me that there are cross stitch patterns available for almost anything you can think of. I wasn’t looking for pool themed cross stitch patterns, but in scrolling around Etsy looking more generally for summer cross stitch patterns, I found a lot of pool patterns so I figured I should share them.

I love the colors in these designs, almost as cool as sliding into the pool on a hot day.

The first one I found was Pool Party by Milky Stitch. It features someone lounging in the pool, someone lounging next to the pool, and some fun accessories you might need for a day at the pool. It uses 20 colors and was designed for 11 count fabric, which means it comes out to 12.2 by 8.2 inches, or 31 by 21 cm.

Pastel Pool from Stitch Me Good Designs looks like it would fit right in with Pool Party on a gallery wall. This one uses seven colors and 14 count fabric and fits in a 7-inch hoop.

Speaking of gallery walls, if you want a room full of summer sun and pool themed cross stitch, check out this trifecta of pool designs from Craft Bundle Lab. There’s a women floating in a pool with a large hat, a float in a pool and several floats and pool toys in another pool with a fun checkerboard bottom. Each design uses 12 colors and they are about 14.6 inches/37 cm square worked on 14-count fabric.

This designs from Cross Stitchers United shows three people floating in a pool in different ways. This one has cross stitched water, or you can stitch it on blue fabric and save yourself some time. As shown it uses nine colors and is 94 by 94 stitches, which is 6.7 inches or 17 cm square on 14-count fabric.

The Swimmers in a Pool cross stitch pattern from Thread Nova Studios is delightful. It’s stitched with everyone wearing red suits, but you could change up some of them — or even just one of them — to change the look of the project. This one uses 14 colors and is 200 by 200 stitches. That’s about 14.3 inches/36.3 cm on 14 count fabric, though the pattern includes sizing for other stitch counts, too.

And finally the pool pattern from The Lady at Home just makes you wish you could jump right into it. The pool with floats looks super inviting, and it is stitched on 14-count fabric with a finished size of 5 by 7 inches/12.7 by 17.8 cm.

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