Cross Stitch – Don’t Be Afraid to Change Colors

There’s a joke in the knitting world that designers will hear from people who love their patterns but have just one question: “Will it work if I knit it in blue instead of red?”

I don’t know if anyone has really asked that question, but I do know that the vast majority of people pick the exact same color yarn to work a project as is shown in the pattern.

Surely it’s the same for cross stitch.

And while it can be somewhat hard to visualize how a cross-stitch chart will look in, say, purple instead of yellow, it’s totally possible to alter the colors used in a project.

This could be as simple as using dark blue when the chart says light blue, or it could involve completely redrawing the pattern so that you can more easily see what changes you are making.

Red Tansy shows how to do this with a small chart, and its definitely easier if you’re going to have to redraw the chart to do it on a small pattern. But the same process works no matter the size, and can make a big difference in terms of the finished look of your project.

Have you ever swapped out colors on a cross-stitch design? I’d love to know how it went.

[Photo: Red Tansy.]

Looking for more Rose-themed cross stitch patterns or charts ? Check these out on Etsy and these on the DMC threads website.

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25 Tulip Cross Stitch Patterns

The other day I shared some cross stitch patterns with ornaments on them, so this time around I wanted to share cross stitch patterns that you can use as ornaments. It would be fun to do a whole tree in your craft room with cross stitch ornaments, or just add a few to your tree or give them as gifts.

These little quilt inspired cross stitch patterns from Flamingo Toes look like ornaments and fit in 3-inch hoops, which are perfect for hanging on the tree or using to decorate a gift. I love the pastel colors on these but you can use more traditional Christmas colors if you like.

This cute Christmas tree from Lagodargetoshop uses a single color and fits in a 4-inch hoop, but you could make it smaller if you wanted by trimming the last ornaments and gifts from the sides, or just stitch the tree without any other embellishments. Either way it’s a cute addition to your holiday tree.

Stitched Modern has a super cute collection of retro Christmas ornament cross stitch patterns from designer Gera. This is a printed pattern that will be shipped to you. Each pattern is about 40 by 56 stitches, or 2.9 by 4 inches/7.4 by 10 cm on 14 count fabric. To work the whole set you’ll need 20 colors of floss.

These snowflake ornaments from Our Little Handmade Home are each about 2.5 inches/6.4 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric, and they use a single color of floss. They are pretty in red but you could also do white on a blue or black background, or whatever suits your other Christmas tree decorations!

From the description it sounds like this set of vintage style cross stitch characters is presented as one large chart, but the photo from Sampler Antique Stitch shows each of them stitched up as their own little ornament, so it gets included here. You’ll find Santa and snowmen in different poses in this cute collection.

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