Designer Spotlight: Nathnolu

Nathnolu is an Etsy shop based in Cyprus that features a smallish but fun collection of what it calls modern cross stitch patterns. There’s a colorful, mystical side to these designs that is a lot of fun, so let’s take a closer look.

The largest category of patterns is insects, which leans heavily on butterflies and beetles. This geometric (and what did I say about colorful?) bug cross stitch pattern caught my eye when I was scrolling through. This design is 124 by 90 stitches, which works out to 8.86 by 6.43 inches, or 22.5 by 16.33 cm, on 14 count fabric. It uses 19 colors and includes only full cross stitches, so it would be a good one for an advanced beginner ready to take on a little more complex of a project.

The next most populous category is called mystical cross stitch, and if you’ve been here for long you can probably guess that these are some of my favorites. There’s an owl doing cross stitch in a comfy chair, for crying out loud! These definitely run to the cozy side of magic and cryptids.

Like many cross stitch designers, Nathnolu also has a nice selection of Christmas cross stitch patterns, including classics like snowflakes, Christmas trees and a heart-shaped sampler full of designs that look pulled from a Fair Isle sweater. But there’s also a gingerbread bunny skeleton, a black cat in a stocking decorated with skulls and cross bones, and a bat in a cozy scarf. You know, variety.

In addition to those bigger categories, you’ll find florals, ocean/nautical designs, Halloween projects, a cute pineapple, some Valentine’s projects (including a lovable ghost), and a gorgeous set of animals mostly made out of flowers. There’s a pig, chicken, toad, cow, rabbit and a few birds, and these look like they’d be lots of fun to stitch.

Check out all the cute designs over at Nathnolu on Etsy.

[Photo: Nathnolu]

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!

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