Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Designer Spotlight: Durene J Cross Stitch

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I feel like I have shared a lot of British designer Durene J Cross Stitch’s patterns before, so it seemed like high time to share their Etsy shop as a designer spotlight.

When I think of Durene’s designs, I think of holiday inspired patterns with a cute, cartoony feel. They are whimsical and fun and super cute.

And while it’s true that a lot of her designs do focus on holidays, plenty of them do not, and here you’ll find a lot of cute animals, flower fairies, projects with a beach theme and more.

She does a lot of these large hoop cross stitch projects like the one shown here. This modern tulip design has the feel of a mandala or like looking at flowers through a kaleidoscope. It has a max stitch count of 163 by 163 stitches, and comes out to 11.6 by 11.6 inches or 29.6 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric. The listing doesn’t indicate how many colors it uses but there are at least nine.

But if you like seasonal stitching you should definitely take a look at hear seasonal patterns, too. Most of them are for Christmas, including cross stitch stocking patterns, but there are a good number for Halloween as well.

Another thing that’s really cool in her pattern collection is three-dimensional projects such as ornaments, candle mats, pouches, and even a cute Halloween bowl made with cross stitch on the outside and fabric on the inside.

For these projects you not only get the cross stitch charts but all the instructions for finishing the project including any templates you need to complete it. These would be fun to get as gifts for a stitching friend and make your own kit for them to finish the project.

Check out all of their fun stuff (including hardanger and embroidery projects, too) at Durene J Cross Stitch on Etsy.

[Photo: Durene J Cross Stitch]

Have you read?

Halloween Sampler Cross Stitch Patterns

Stitch up something a little different for your Halloween decor with these Halloween sampler cross stitch patterns. From the traditional to the slightly offbeat, I think there’s something for almost everyone here. 

This cute little sampler from Juko Patterns includes a haunted house, black cats, spiders, bats and pumpkins, a skeleton, crow and ghost among other delights. The design is 142 by 150 stitches and uses 7 colors. On 14 count fabric the design comes out to 10.1 by 10.7 inches or 25.8 by 27.2 cm. 

ONESEO has a cute vintage style Halloween sampler with cats, pumpkins, ghosts, a witch, spider web, potion bottles and other cute designs. This would be a fun one to stitch as is or to pull out little details to use in different projects. Or both! As shown the design is 200 by 200 stitches and uses 16 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 14.3 inches square or 36.3 cm. 

Another cute Halloween design is this October sampler from Sosae Caetano. This sweet design full of pumpkins, candy corn, ghosts and witch hats looks easy to stitch and comes out to 4.75 by 8 inches (that’s about 12 by 20 cm) on 14 count fabric. The pattern notes don’t say but it looks like it uses 7 colors. 

This All Hallows Eve samplers form Autumn Andrea features an alphabet, a black cat, a few crows and pumpkins, and other elements like a cauldron, skeleton and owl. This one is a gigantic 437 by 352 stitches, which comes out to 31.21 by 25.14 inches, or 79.27 by 63.85 cm on 14 count fabric. It calls for 28 colors. If that all sounds like too much you could always just stitch a portion such as the cat or one of the crows to add to your Halloween display. 

On the traditional but still kind of silly side of the spectrum, there’s this Plum Street Samplers design called Grim Gourds, featuring some grumpy looking pumpkins, a black bird and an alphabet. This one is a printed pattern sold by Hollis Hands Create, and the pattern measures 97 by 90 stitches and uses five colors. 

The Colours of Halloween design from Stitchrovia never fails to make me smile and want to look closer. It features squares of different colors and patterns and their Halloween meaning, from a full moon to a magic potion, candy corn and slime. Such a fun idea! It measures 119 by 180 stitches, and uses 24 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 8.4 by 12. 9 inches, or 21.4 by 32.8 cm.