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Designer Spotlight: The Fresh Cross Stitch

March 18, 2026 by Sarah White

The Fresh Cross Stitch shop is fresh in the way that a spring day is fresh, with pastel colors and happy designs. Let’s take a closer look at this sweet cross stitch pattern shop based in Spain. 

The shop has 130 patterns as of this writing, and the cover a range of topics. This may be the first Etsy shop I’ve ever seen where the biggest category on the page is alphabets. Interestingly enough when I looked in on them there were 26 options for lettering to add to your projects (though some are bundles), covering everything from scrip fonts to one that looks like friendship bracelet beads to one that features letters on alphabet blocks.

The largest selection of more patterny patterns is food, which has lots of cute designs, from lemons, peaches and pears to fruit wreaths, a box of chocolates and samplers of different foods, from sushi to slices of cake. 

And toast, of course. 

The toast poster cross stitch pattern features 12 ways to take your toast, from peanut butter and banana to avocado and salmon, blueberries and cream cheese and chocolate and strawberry. The design is 141 by 200 stitches and uses 22 colors. On 14 count fabric it comes out to 10 by 14.3 inches, or 25.4 by 36 cm. You could also take an individual toast and stitch it up separately to frame in your breakfast area. 

Other categories include Christmas, full of cute little houses, wreaths and stockings; book covers and book-quote cross stitch patterns; patterns for baby, of animals and featuring plants, flowers and leaves. 

There are a few fun cross stitch patterns that look like game boards, others that are pop culture references, and a couple of cute buildings from around the world. These have a sort of Wes Anderson feel, like there’s something a little unreal about them but you also want to look deeper and figure out what’s going on there. 

Check out all the patterns at The Fresh Cross Stitch on Etsy.

[Photo: The Fresh Cross Stitch]

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Have you read?

Everything You Need to Know About Embroidery Hoops

One of the most common supplies for cross stitch, aside from fabric, needles and floss, is an embroidery hoop. A hoop isn’t needed for every project, and indeed there are some stitchers who prefer not to use them at all. I generally don’t use a hoop when I’m working on a small cross stitch project, especially something that’s shape isn’t conducive to using a hoop (like a bookmark). 

But embroidery hoops can be really helpful for cross stitch because they hold your fabric at an even tension, which allows you to stitch more evenly without any more work on your part. It’s great for beginners to use hoops because the tension on the fabric can both help make your stitches more even and make the holes in the fabric a little easier to see. 

I’ll admit to always just buying whatever hoop is available in the right size when I’m ready to start a project without giving it much more thought than that. But there are things you should consider when choosing among the different kinds of hoops, which Caterpillar Cross Stitch covers in their great guide to embroidery hoops. 

The post walks you through wooden, plastic, spring tension and flexi hoops (which I’ll admit to having never heard of; they’re made of vinyl and plastic apparently), as well as Q-Snap frames, which aren’t really hoops because they’re made of plastic tubes that you snap together in the size and shape you need. 

It also covers what size hoop you should use for the project you’re working on and how to actually use a hoop in the right way. 

Whether you’re new to cross stitch or more seasoned, you’re sure to pick up a tip or a product to try in this post, so go check it out over at Caterpillar Cross Stitch. 

Do you have a favorite kind of embroidery hoop to use for cross stitch, or do you go without? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

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