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]

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

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