Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Egyptian Cross-Stitch

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Hannah submitted this post and wow am I glad she shared her link! She writes in her blog that her friend send this bag to her from Egypt. She says, “The tag says it’s from a fair trade association for selling handicrafts, and this one was made by a group of North Sinai Bedouin women. The tag says “Each design and color combination holds social and/or cultural meaning” but totally fails to say what meaning that is. Just enough information to be frustratingly vague. … It does mention that the design is inspired by patterns used to decorate traditional Bedouin wedding galabeyas (a special type of traditional dress).”

I hope Hannah will keep us updated if she finds out more about the bag!

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Comments

  1. I am Egyptian and want to share with you some info about North Sinai cross stitching :
    ” Bedouin women are keen to show their social situation statues by the colors used in the embroidery and garment they wear. For example dress embroidered in blue worn by an old lady, or a divorced.The married woman dress is embroidered in red, while the little girl wears dresses embroidered in light colors”. Also every tribe can be known by its own stitching type on dresses.”

Have you read?

Designer Spotlight: Haunted Frames

Cute spooky and fantasy cross stitch patterns is how the designer behind Haunted Frames describes their shop, and I have to agree with them. These designs are cute and Gothic and a little bit spooky all at once. There’s a heavy focus on book themes, which you know I am a fan of, so let’s get into it. 

Stopping first in the books section, there are lots of designs that are literally on book shapes, but if you know my love of both books and cats, you’ll know I had to share the Midnight Book Cart cross stitch pattern. As the name suggests it’s a design with a witchy book cart, complete with a spiderweb, bats flying out of a book and what it describes as a ghost cat (though I would have to make a black cat instead of a white one since I have a black cat, and that fits with the vibe). 

The design is 65 by 97 stitches and is worked in 17 colors. It’s shown on 16 count fabric, which makes it 4.1 by 6.1 inches, or 10.3 by 15.4 cm. 

I also love the winter themed little free library design, which would be perfect to stitch up for the little librarian in your life (or to drop at a neighborhood book space). 

Projects with a book theme make up the majority of the patterns that are categorized in this shop, but you’ll want to scroll through all their patterns to see what else is available, since it doesn’t look like everything is in a category. You’ll find castles and dragons, more cats of course, some more obviously Halloween and Christmas themed projects and those that would suit for spooky season or any other time of year. 

If cute and dark is your aesthetic, you’ll want to check out all the patterns at www.etsy.com/shop/HauntedFrames, which you can find on Etsy. 

[Photo: Haunted Frames]