Designer Spotlight: Tourmaline Pattern

The Ukrainian Etsy shop Tourmaline Pattern is the place for you if you like animal patterns with a lot of whimsy and a touch of snark.

You know it’s going to be good when the categories include things like ghosts, silly goose, witchy cross stitch, mushrooms, snarky, gunny, cottagcore and goblincore.

Let’s go back to silly goose for a second just in case you’re wondering what that’s about. The goose can be found wearing a flower hat, carrying a Christmas present while wearing a scarf, posing scandalously in a watermelon patch and dressed up like a punk rocker, among other things.

I love a good mushroom pattern, but these are pretty silly, too. They include a racoon and a frog in mushroom hats, mushrooms feeling some different emotions and magic mushrooms being visited by ghosts.

Speaking of ghosts, there are ghosts dressed as cowboys, in flower crowns and taking selfies. There’s not a Halloween section outside of the ghosts, but there are also Easter, Valentine’s Day and Christmas themed cross stitch patterns, if you’re into that.

The snarky section includes some things I wouldn’t share here, but I couldn’t resist pulling out the Nessie cross stitch pattern that says “I don’t believe in humans.” This one looks great on black cross stitch fabric. The pattern is 54 by 43 stitches and uses nine colors. If you stitch it on 14 count fabric it will come out to 3.8 by 3 inches, or 9.7 by 7.8 cm.

In addition to all that, you’ll also find a collection of fun (and again, sometimes snarky) cross stitch bookmark patterns, which are great to stitch up as holiday gifts for the readers in your life. These include cats, the silly goose again, ghosts, snarky sayings, fruits, planets and more.

As of this writing you can buy any three patterns and get 40 percent off, or buy five patterns for 50 percent off, so if you like this style you can stock up.

Check out all their designs at Tourmaline Pattern on Etsy.

[Photo: Tourmaline Pattern]

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Make Your Cross Stitch into an Iron On Patch

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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