Designer Spotlight: Pixell Patterns

If you like colorful cross stitch patterns, pop culture references and a bit of (sometimes adult themed) snark, Pixell Patterns might just be the storefront for you.

This Etsy shop based in Portland is full of patterns inspired by pop culture, from Disney and Hello Kitty to The Simpsons, The Beatles, Star Trek and much more. Pop culture is the second-biggest category on the site behind snarky sayings. Don’t click on this one if you’re easily offended, but there’s a lot of funny stuff here, too, like “lover of cancelled plans” and “not all those who wander are lost but I am” stitched on an old style national park sign.

Another popular category is animals, which includes cars, dogs, a frog in a beret and a shark about to attack, among others. Some of these are a little snarky, too. There are book themed designs (including several taking pride in reading smut), feminist projects, nature inspired designs and more.

I love the geometric designs like this rainbow geometric cross stitch pattern because they’re pretty easy to stitch but make a big impact and add a lot of color to a space without a ton of work. It uses 37 colors and comes out to 8 inches or 20.23 cm square when worked on 14 count fabric. You could definitely do this project as a stash buster using whatever colors in each particular genre you have instead of buying all the specific colors they used.

Other categories you’ll find at Pixell Patterns include Halloween, Christmas, beginner (which only has one pattern in it as of this writing) and LGBTQIA+. They also have a few pattern bundles, including one with six geometric designs, including the one shown here.

They also offer a handful of cross stitch kits for patterns, which include the printed pattern, all floss, a hoop, needle and cloth to work the design.

Check out all the fun stuff at Pixell Patterns on Etsy.

[Photo: Pixell Patterns]

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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