Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Diwali Cross Stitch Patterns

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I’ve shared a few Diwali cross stitch patterns over the years, including hands holding a diya lamp and some pretty lanterns. 

I wanted to look for some more patterns for Diwali this year, and here’s what I found.  

I love this design from Cutara that features a bunch of diya oil lamps in a circular design. It’s especially pretty on dark colored fabric, but would be nice on white or cream colored fabric instead. (I have some dark blue fabric I think would be lovely with this design, too.) The design is 200 by 200 stitches and uses 17 colors. 

This watercolor diya cross stitch from Sonya Cross Stitch is also a great option. While it’s a little bit smaller, and 136 by 131 stitches, but it uses a lot more colors, at 32. On 14 count fabric this one measures 9.7 by 9.4 inches, or 24.67 by 23.77 cm.

This sweet candle and lotus pattern from Ludicrous Threads would be great for Diwali, or if you change the colors a bit it would look nice for Christmas, too. It’s recommended that you stitch it on 14 count fabric and the design fits in an 8-inch hoop, at about 7.5 inches or 19 cm square. 

Or if you want to try something super fancy and dramatic looking, check out this design from Peppermint Purple. It combines regular cross stitch with blackwork, which is the design in the background at the edges of the rangoli, as well as some on the diya.

This pattern is fun because you get three charts in one. One is as shown with the rangoli and diya together, and then there are charts of each of them separate so you can work them individually if you’d rather. Together the pattern is 150 by 150, which is 10.72 inches or 27.22 cm square. 

The rangoli by itself is the same size, and the diya by itself measures 74 by 75 stitches, which is a great size for a greeting card. That comes out to 5.29 by 5.36 inches or 13.43 by 13.61 cm. The full pattern uses 11 colors. 

Have you read?

How to Add Text to a Cross Stitch Project

One of the easiest ways to make a cross stitch project more personal is to add text to it. Whether you’re adding the names of people getting married to a generic floral cross stitch design, birth information to a project on theme with the new baby’s room or just adding a word or phrase that’s meaningful to you, adding words to cross stitch projects make them that much more special. 

But if you’re not working with a project that already has text built in, or you want to change the text that’s there, that can feel a little daunting. 

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has a great guide to adding names and words (as well as numbers) to projects, which talks you through what to consider and how to actually go about adding text to a cross stitch project successfully. 

You’ll need to think about what kind of font you want to use and if you’re using back stitched letters or larger filled letters, how much space you need and how the letters work together in the text you’re planning to make sure it’s readable. 

Their post includes common pitfalls such as running out a space or ending up with text that’s off center and how to avoid them (spoiler: chart out your text before you stitch!). 

The whole post is really helpful if you’ve never added lettering to a project before and don’t know where to start. I like to use block letters in back stitch when learning how to add text to cross stitch, but of course there are tons of lettering options. Check out this collection of cross stitch fonts if you want to see some different things you can try. 

And head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch to get more tips for how to successfully add lettering to your cross stitch projects. They also have their own alphabet and number charts you can buy to add text to your stitching. 

Have you ever added text to a cross stitch project? I’d love to hear how it went!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]