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.

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]

Have you read?