Cross Stitch for the Beach

This time of year I always start thinking about vacations, and while I don’t think I’ll be seeing the beach this year, I could stitch up one of these beach themed cross stitch patterns, which would be perfect if you live near the beach or have a beach house to decorate.

First there are these teeny projects from Bella Rose Craft. This set of minis includes a seagull and a starfish, and they are each shown in their own 1.5 by 2 inch/3.8 by 5 cm frames, though the pattern has them together on one chart. The gull is 17 by 20 stitches and the starfish is 16 by 16.

Speaking of seagulls, I love this little seagull sampler that also includes anchors, sailboats and a life preserver, among other summer symbols. This one is from Bees on Toast Shop (would love to know the story of that name!) and uses only full cross stitches and 8 colors. The sample is shown in a 6-inch hoop.

If you want to get literal with your beach stitching, try this project that says beach and includes sand, sea, sun and lots of other fun stuff within the letters. The design is from Stitchrovia and measures 252 by 85 stitches. On 14 count fabric that would be 18 by 6.1 inches, or 45.7 by 15.4 cm. Sizing for other fabric counts are included if you want to make yours smaller. The pattern uses 21 colors.

Stitch up a project that says “wish you were here” or “wish I were there” with this one from The Little Art Veranda. It shows two chairs on the beach in front of what I’ve decided is the sunset (which kind of looks like an egg, but I like it). It uses 9 colors and only full cross stitches. It’s 140 by 140 stitches and fits perfectly in a 10 inch hoop if stitched on 14 count fabric.

Or make the beach modern art with this fun wave design from Box and Fox worked in three shades of blue. It measures 110 by 10 stitches, which is 7.8 inches or 19.96 cm square on 14 count fabric. Despite the dramatic look this would be a great option for someone new to cross stitch.

I was recently doing a scroll through some crafting websites that I follow and I came across this amazing collection of cross stitch job patterns from Koekoek. It includes more than 100 different jobs, sports and hobbies, and these would be so much fun to personalize and stitch up for friends, family and co-workers.

You’ll find everything from occupations like doctor, fireman, maternity nurse, tax lawyer and librarian to sports like swimming, fishing and beach volleyball.

There’s pattern for watching marathon amounts of Netflix, doing triathlons (basically the same thing, right?), teaching geography, graphic design and catching Pokemon. Among many others.

The designs are categorized by medical professions, office jobs, stitch a sport (which includes other hobbies) and education professions, or you can just scroll through all the patterns to see the variety. Check out all the designs on their website, or scroll down on this page to see them in categories and with more details.

They suggest working these with a five inch hoop using 14 count cross stitch fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two threads for a fancier look. The number of colors needed for each design varies, but they are pretty small projects so there’s generally not a ton of detail.

The patterns also include text for what the image is showing like “the knitter” or “the veterinarian,” but they also have a post about how to personalize the designs with different text such as the person’s name, a date or a quote. There’s also a full bask stitch alphabet included in the post so you can chart out your own text.

And while the designs show specific people, you can change up details like hair color, clothing color and eye color if you want to make it look more like the person you intend to give it to. You can also purchase custom cross stitch kits from them to make the project exactly the way you want it without having to do the work yourself.

I think this is such a fun idea for a graduation gift or a holiday gift. If you check it out I’d love to know which characters you are stitching!

[Photo: Koekoek]

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