Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Get Inspired with Mr. X Stitch’s New Book

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mr x stitch guide to cross stitch

I haven’t seen this one in person yet, but I’m super excited about the new book from Mr. X Stitch, aka Jamie Chalmers, The Mr. X Stitch Guide to Cross Stitch.

If you don’t know about him, check out this video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr154jHDeLY]

The book includes instructions on the basics of cross stitch and 20-plus lovely, modern cross-stitch designs, from a project where you’re meant to show off the back of your work (!) to a cityscape stitched with glow-in-the-dark thread. I love that flower on the cover.

There are profiles of artists who take cross stitch to new places, and tons of inspiration for stitchers of all skill levels.

You can get a peek into the book at the publisher’s website. Mr. X Stitch is British but the book is available from Amazon in the US as well.

Have you seen this book yet? I’d love to hear what you think!

[Photo: Search Press.]

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Cross Stitch Creatures from the Sea

Last fall I came across this cross stitch pattern for a sea turtle and I talked myself out of sharing it right away because tropical animals don’t feel like a “fall” thing, but now that it’s summer again, let’s take a look at some cross stitch patterns for creatures that live in or around the sea. 

This sea turtle design from Witch Wolf Web Creations is literally just a chart with no grid to help you count stitches or suggested colors, but I would print it out and add a grid to make it easier to stitch. You can work it in many colors as shown, or there’s also a black and white version so you could just do it in a single color. 

Stitch up some fish or a seahorse with this bundle of four tropical fish cross stitch patterns from LaSelva Design. It includes a clownfish, seahorse, moorish idol and blue tang, all of which vary in size and colors used, but they’re all really cute. 

Or you can stitch a tank’s worth of tropical fish with this project from SamXstitch. There are 22 fish in all on this project, which measures 153 by 153 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm. It uses 15 colors. 

I also love the jewel-toned fishies on this project from Velvet Pony Design. This one has seven fish and a seahorse and measures 113 by 140 stitches. That’s just over 8 by 10 inches or 20.5 by 25.4 cm on 14 count fabric, though you can make it smaller with a higher fabric count. It calls for 24 colors. 

This vintage design from Past Pattern Palooza Co has a whole school of little fish. The design is 120 by 260 stitches and uses 30 colors. It measures 8.57 by 18.57 inches (21.7 by 47.2 cm) on 14 count fabric. The pattern notes say there are 69 designs in total, an individual fish range from 1.5 to 3 inches, or 4.5 to 8 cm. 

You can stitch up a whole tropical world complete with coral using this design from Easy Stitching Outlet (though I don’t think this one is particularly easy). At 219 by 95 stitches, on 14 count fabric it will come out to 15.6 by 6.8 inches, or 39.73 by 17.24 cm.