Last month I shared a post about three-dimensional options for cross stitch designs, and one of the things that was mentioned was doing cross stitch on plastic canvas. This isn’t something I’ve ever done (though I have stitched straight stitches on plastic canvas and I love that as a way to teach kids to sew) so I thought we should take a closer look at how to cross stitch on plastic canvas.
What is Plastic Canvas?
Plastic canvas is a rigid material (made out of plastic) with regular holes in it, just like cross stitch fabric. The holes are in a grid like cross stitch fabric. It comes in a lot of different colors, though much like cross stitch fabric, white is common.
And like cross stitch fabric, there are different “counts” of plastic canvas, but 14 count is the smallest (most number of holes per inch) you can typically find. Lower counts (fewer holes per inch) are more readily available, including 10, 7 and 5 count.
If you don’t know the count of the plastic canvas you have, measure and inch/2.5 cm and count how many holes there are.
What Patterns Can You Use for Plastic Canvas?
Because of the available stitch counts, you can’t use super detailed patterns or things that are meant to have a higher stitch count (more stitches per inch) than 14.
You also need to stick to patterns that only include full cross stitches and back stitch, because you can’t work fractional stitches on plastic canvas.
If you pick a design to stitch that wasn’t made for the count of plastic canvas you are using, your pattern will come out a different size. For example, if the chart you’re looking at is made for 14 count fabric and is 4 inches/10 cm across, if you use 7 count instead it will end up 8 inches/20 cm across instead because you’re only getting half as many stitches in each inch.
Where Can I Find Plastic Canvas Cross Stitch Patterns?
There are a lot of three-dimensional cross stitch patterns that call for plastic canvas, like this adorable little Dumpster fire from Notorious Needle or this haunted hose design from the World of Cross Stitching.
Notorious Needle, by the way, has lots of great tips for working with plastic canvas, so that blog is a great place to start.
You can also make flat pieces with plastic canvas, such as this Easter bunny ornament from Blue Bird Crafts Store, or this Hagrid (oh, sorry, “wizard giant and his monster book”) from Daily Magic Stitch.
Or make a super cute color block keychain with this kit from Diana Watters Handmade.
Any small cross stitch patterns would be great stitched on plastic canvas, too, so you can turn them into ornaments or pins or use them in other projects.
Have you ever done cross stitch on plastic canvas? I’d love to hear about it!
Photo: Notorious Needle
