Fun Ideas for Personalized Cross Stitch Gifts

It’s gift giving season, and it can be fun to make gifts for others, whether cross stitched or otherwise. I have a huge cross stitch project I’ve been “working” on for my daughter that is definitely not going to be ready for Christmas. Her birthday is in September, so maybe it will be done by then? One can hope.

Gift cross stitch projects don’t have to be a big undertaking, of course, and even small patterns can be made more special by adding some personalization.

Lord Libidan recently shared a few ideas for personalized cross stitch projects that you can try if you’re wanting to stitch gifts for people (and whether you should/who is worthy of a cross stitch gift is a topic for another post).

With all the cross stitch alphabets available out there — or you could design your own — it’s easy to add a name, date, or other things to other cross stitch projects. And of course a lot of projects already have customization built in such as cross stitch patterns for weddings, births and graduations.

But you can also add personalization to a sampler project that doesn’t typically call for it, or add special words or a name to other projects like stitched Christmas ornaments or bookmarks.

The post also looks at cross stitch projects that are more literally personalized such as cross stitch portraits or stitching the house of someone who might have just moved. You could also do a map cross stitch with hearts where the person is from or places they have lived, or just add text to a project related to a fandom or favorite thing of the person.

Check out the post at Lord Libidan for more inspiration. I’d love to know if you make personalized cross stitch gifts for people and what you have done in the past.

[Image by Anna Prosekova from Pixabay]

Inkspire Studio Shops offers cross stitch patterns as well as tons of different stitch minders, scissor charms and thread organization tools.

We’ll get to all that, but since we’re mostly here for the patterns, let’s start there.

All of the patterns are in one category (called Inkspire Originals if you’re following along). There are a lot of book-themed projects and more of the designs are bookmarks than anything else. You’ll find trope bookmarks, a Reading Rainbow themed design, flowers and a super cute watercolor set bookmark, to name a few.

And while the book themed projects are by far the most numerous, I wanted to share this super cute pile of vintage Pyrex style bowls. I love the colors on this one and it should be easy to stitch because so much of it is blocks (or bowls) of a single color. This one is only available as a printed pattern, but most of them are digital.

It calls for six colors and comes out 5.6 by 6.9 inches, or 14.2 by 17.5 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric.

In addition to the bookmarks and book themed projects you’ll find a few kitchen projects and some Halloween and Christmas designs as well.

But what this shop is really about is needle minders, and there are tons of them, with all kinds of themes ranging from introverted and snarky to animal themes, food and beverages, retro designs and religious and inspiring needle minders.

If you don’t know about needle minders, these are acrylic with magnets. You stick a magnet to the back of your work, add the needle minder to the front of the work, and then it holds your sewing needle when you’re not stitching. No need for piercing your fabric or losing your needle between stitching sessions.

She also makes charms you can attach to your scissors (or use as a stitch marker if you’re a knitter or crocheter), inventory and project trackers and bags large and small to hold works in progress and other supplies. She’s also got a great collection of vintage cross stitch patterns and kits, so check out all the fun goodies at Inkspired Studio Shops.

[Photo: Inkspire Studio Shops]

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