Designer Spotlight: TAM Stitch Designs

If you love pastels (and cross-stitched houses), TAM Stitch Designs has patterns for you. This collection of contemporary cross stitch patterns from the UK is heavy on cool colors, with calming designs involving flowers, beach scenes, little cottages and more.

The site is well organized to help you find just what you’re looking for, whether that’s a cross stitch pattern of a gnome (these are brighter colors than a lot of their designs), mandalas or fairies. In all there are more than 430 patterns as of this writing for you to choose from.

There are lots of variations on the seaside town with stacks of colorful little buildings along the water’s edge. I picked this one to share because it reminds me of a place I spent a summer a long time ago. Seaside Town is 200 by 200 stitches, which comes out to 14.25 by 14.25 inches, or 36.3 by 36.3 cm, if you use 14 count fabric. The pattern recommends working with an 18 inch piece of fabric to have a two-inch border on the sides, which makes framing that much easier. The description doesn’t say hoe many colors are used but it looks like a lot.

There’s also a whole section of cottagecore cross stitch patterns if that’s a style you’re into. Most of them are literally designs of cottages, but you’ll also find flowers, mushrooms, and even a design of a Victorian style bathtub.

As of this writing the designer offers volume discounts, with 30 percent off when you buy two patterns, 40 percent off when you buy three, and 50 percent off when you buy four at the same time. So if this is a vibe you like, visit their shop and stock up on patterns that will keep you busy (and chill with all those cool colors!) for a long time to come.

[Photo: TAM Stitch Designs]

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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