Cross-Stitch

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Designer Spotlight: TAM Stitch Designs

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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]

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Seagull Cross Stitch Patterns

Summertime is beach time, which also means it’s seagull time. Let’s stitch up some of our favorite scavengers of the shore. 

This little seagull stamp from Easy Patterns Only is super cute and fun to stitch for any lover of the sea. At 23 by 27 stitches, it uses six colors and measures 1.64 by 1.93 inches or 4.17 by 4.9 cm on 14 count fabric. 

I also love this silly little seagull from Stitchissimo. This one is 24 by 35 stitches and uses five colors. On 14 count fabric it’s just 1.7 by 2.5 inches, or 4.4 by 6.4 cm. 

Go for a more traditional flying gull project with this one from Silverberry Designs. It uses six colors and measures 2.21 by 4.43 inches (5.6 by 11.3 cm) on 14 count fabric with a stitch count of 31 by 62. 

Use seagulls to share your love with this pattern from Yellow Birdie Stitches. Share it with the person you love more than a seagull loves chips (you could change it to fries pretty easily if you prefer the American term). It’s 63 by 60 stitches and uses 10 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 4.5 by 4.25 inches, or 11.4 by 10.9 cm. 

And speaking of fries, Happy Sloth Patterns offers this seagull with a face full of chips. It uses nine colors and is 60 by 49 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 4.3 by 3.5 inches, or 10.9 by 8.9 cm, which fits nicely in a six-inch hoop. 

Or stitch up some carousing gulls with this pattern from Non Stop Stitch. It looks like these seagulls are about to get into a fight! The design uses 22 colors and blends and measures 145 by 75 stitches. That’s 8.94 by 4.31 inches, or 22.7 by 10.95 cm on 14 count fabric. 

For a more stately seagull sailor, check out this pattern from Mansarda Cross Stitch. This one combines cross stitch and an embroidered background, though you could leave that out if you don’t do embroidery. It calls for 20 colors and one blend, and measures 83 by 88 stitches. The sample was worked on 56 count linen 1 over 2, but you can use regular Aida fabric if you prefer.