Designer Spotlight: Kits by SAstitch

The first word that comes to mind when I look at patterns from Kits by SAstitch is “cute.” These adorable patterns cover a range of holidays, flowers, cats and more, so let’s take a closer look.

As of this writing the shop, which is based in Ukraine, has more than 700 designs, and more than 100 of those are of gnomes. There are individual gnome patterns as well as sets of gnomes with holiday or seasonal greetings or involving other themes.

For example there’s this set of coffee gnomes, decorated with coffee beans, cookies and other treats. The full set of five gnomes measures 185 by 67 stitches, which comes out to 13.4 by 4.7 inches or 32 by 12 cm on 14 count fabric. It uses 22 solid colors and 3 blends.

You could also stitch a single gnome for a coffee loving friend if you don’t want to take on the whole project at once.

After gnomes, the most populous category on the site is Christmas, which includes lots of adorable snowmen, sweet Santas, pretty penguins and grumpy black cat in an elf costume, to name a few.

Other holidays covered include Easter, Halloween and Valentine’s Day, and there’s a section of winter patterns as well. The site also has a large selection of wedding and birth announcement cross stitch patterns, which you can get a customized chart for when you buy and send the names and other information (custom orders tend to take 24-48 hours, according to the website).

You’ll also find cross stitch animals (plus a specific category just for patterns of a long-eared bunny doll dressed up in all sorts of different clothes), birds, cats (often a cartoony cat in dress up clothes), flowers, boho cross stitch patterns, mushrooms and houses.

There are also a few sets of patterns including themed gnomes, pumpkins with animal faces and lighthouses used as vases. Check out all the fun and cute patterns at Kits by SAstitch on Etsy!

[Photo: Kits by SAstitch]

Classic Coffee Freebie [Cross-Stitch]

Tea and Coffee Cross Stitch Charts [Cross-Stitch]

Cozy Cocoa House Cross Stitch Pattern

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!

Have you read?