Challenge Yourself with a Cross-Stitch Kit

I have to be honest; I tend to stick with really easy cross-stitch patterns when I am stitching myself. I know that I can do bigger and more complex projects but I just don’t push myself to do them often.

When Rachel from Leila Patterns asked me if I wanted to review one of her kits I was super excited.

And that was months ago (sorry Rachel!) and I’ve barely started the gorgeous butterfly cross stitch kit that she sent me.

Mostly because I messed it up and haven’t had the strength to rip it out and start over.

I will definitely work on it and for-real review it soon, but in the meantime I wanted to suggest that if you need a push to do a bigger cross-stitch project, there are a lot of great kits out there where you can get all the supplies you need in one shot. That takes out some of the intimidation factor because you don’t have to go buy 20 skeins of thread just to get started.

I love her designs (see all her kits on her etsy page) and I’ll bet some more of these will end up in my house once I finish this one. As you can see from the picture her kits come with everything you need and a full-color pattern chart.

Do you have a favorite designer or kit maker? I’d love to know about them!

Looking for more Butterfly themed cross stitch patterns and charts? Check out these butterflies we found on Etsy.

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

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