Designer Spotlight: Stitch Riot Designs

For cross stitch projects with a ton of pop culture references, check out Stitch Riot Designs on Etsy. This Oklahoma-based designer sells charts that are heavy on TV show and movie references, music-themed projects and snarky quotes.

You can get a whole bundle of Taylor Swift patterns, a set of patterns of the card decks from the original Microsoft Windows solitaire game, or find quite a lot of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” patterns.

There’s such a wide variety of fun stuff that hits so many fandoms I don’t even know what to highlight, so if you like a particular TV show or movie and would like to see your favorite quote or character in cross stitch, this is a good place to look.

I see patterns ranging from “Bluey” to “Firefly,” “Supernatural” to “Beavis and Butthead.” For movies you’ll find Monty Python, Barbie, Star Wars and The Crow, among others.

But it’s not all pop culture on this storefront, either. There are holiday patterns, pet memorials, projects for nurses and moms, too.

Because I’m a child of the ’80s and I love The Princess Bride, I decided to highlight this As You Wish cross stitch pattern because I love it so much. There are color options that use either three or four colors, and of course you can pick your own colors to suit your decor if you don’t like the red and gold look.

The pattern is 122 by 77 stitches, which comes out to 8.71 by 5.5 inches (22.1 by almost 14 cm) on 14 count fabric. This would be a fun one to do for a wedding or anniversary gift.

With all this I’ve only scratched the surface of the fun stuff you’ll find at Stitch Riot Designs, so head over to their Etsy shop to check it all out. As of this writing they offer 10 percent off when you buy three patterns, 15 percent off of four and 20 percent off of five pattern purchased at the same time.

[Photo: Stitch Riot Designs]

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Cross Stitch Pattern Pride Charity Bundle

The designs from Bella Rose Craft look like they would be good for beginner cross stitchers and others who like relatively simple and small designs that are quick to finish for gifts or decor.

I’ll mention up front that this Etsy shop based in Indiana has no organization whatsoever. There are two categories: kits and patterns. So it’s a bit of a treasure hunt to find what you might be interested in.

As mentioned there are lots of minis and small looking projects with simple lines and minimal colors. There are holiday projects, animals, summer motifs like palm trees and beach umbrellas, a bathtub with a rubber duck, some text based designs (like hoppy spring and merry and bright), some biblical and religious designs, flowers, bunting and more.

On a site like this its difficult to pick something representative of the whole page, but I liked this bees and beehive design, so it’s the one I picked to share. This one illustrates a lot of my general points about the patterns from this shop. It’s small (2.79 by 2.57 inches, or about 7 by 6.5 cm on 14 count fabric), it looks like it’s all whole cross stitches and probably uses only six colors, and a couple of colors are only used for a handful of stitches.

Of the 300 plus cross stitch patterns available as of this writing, 140 are also available as cross stitch kits. These would be great to give as gifts if you’re trying to get someone interested in cross stitching. The kits include the pattern, fabric and floss, and you can choose to have it include a needle or not. The hoop is not included but the patterns explain what kind of hoop is shown if you want to get one to match.

So if you’re looking for cute, beginner friendly patterns for yourself or you’re trying to be a crafty enabler for someone else, check out Bella Rose Craft on Etsy.

[Photo: Bella Rose Craft]

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