Designer Spotlight: Whoopicat

If you’re a fan of art nouveau, art deco or the arts and crafts period in design, have I got a treat for you today. Etsy seller Whoopicat is based in Michigan and makes glorious stitched reproductions of classic designs, as well as projects inspired by vintage illustrations.

Sometimes I don’t even know where to begin or what one photo to share with you when I’m writing these posts, and that’s definitely the case this time around. Historic botanical prints? Golden age illustrations? Reproductions of William Morris wallpaper designs? Early 1900s French fashion illustrations? There’s so much to like and make me wish my cross stitch skills were a little more than what they are so I would feel up to stitching any of these.

OK. How about this mandala cross stitch design based on a circular design of Christopher Dresser’s? He was an English designer in the late 1800s who was quite influential in the Aesthetic movement.

The design looks complex, but because it’s symmetrical it’s not as difficult as some of the others, and it only uses 10 colors. You can keep it in the tones of yellow, red and blue shown, or adjust it to suit your space better. (The whole idea of aestheticism is to make something beautiful, after all!) It measures 173 by 173 stitches, or 12.36 inches/31.4 cm square. It’s a great size for a pillow or a wall hanging.

If this sort of style appeals to you at all, you should definitely spend some time browsing around to find your favorites. (They have more than 700 designs as of this writing.)

And lest you think it’s all high art, there’s a fun collection of vintage and vintage-inspired holiday designs, too. I’m partial to this one developed from a postcard showing a bunch of black cats in front of a jack o’lantern.

Check out all their designs at Whoopicat on Etsy.

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Stitch Samplers and Other Historic Inspired Designs

If you like seasonal samplers and cross stitch patterns with a primitive twist, you’ll enjoy the collection from Curious Carrie Designs.

You’ll find alphabet designs, biscornu, patriotic projects and more. The summer category is the largest on the storefront, with Americana and floral designs. There are also categories for the other seasons and more general designs.

One of my favorites is this pretty sunflower cross stitch pattern, which is shown styled as a biscornu but it wouldn’t have to be. The pattern features sunflowers and bees and a little beehive. It uses 12 colors of floss and each side of the pattern is 51 by 51 stitches, which comes out to 3.64 inches or 9.2 cm square.

I love the fabric she used for the sample, which she actually dyed purple herself, but it would also be pretty on a purchased light blue or other color if you don’t want to dye your own.

There’s also a whole set of themed biscornu with a four letter word on one side (crow, home, love and snow, to name a few) along with a seasonal pattern on the other side.

The shop has a rather small selection at around 90 patterns as of this writing, but it’s a nice collection of traditional looking designs heavy on samplers and biscornu designs, so if those are things you like you’ll want to be sure to check it out. Visit Curious Carrie Designs on Etsy to see all her pretty designs.

Are you a designer or do you have a favorite cross stitch designer who hasn’t made it into the spotlight yet? (You can see all the featured designers in the craft businesses category on the page.) Let me know in the comments, or you can submit more detailed information by clicking on “suggest a craft” at the center top of the page.

[Photo: Curious Carrie Designs]

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