Get Primitive Style Cross Stitch Patterns from Scattered Seeds Samplers

I don’t know if I know what the real definition of primitive cross stitch is, but to me it means patterns that look old-fashioned, like colonial American-era samplers stitched on muslin or Bible quotes stitched alongside flowers and animals.

So pretty much exactly the designs from Scattered Seed Samplers. This Etsy shop has more than 80 cross stitch patterns available for shipping, from historical samplers to birds, bunnies, flowers, patterns with words and those without.

Since it’s fall as I write this I wanted to highlight the Hannah’s Thankful Heart pattern, which features a turkey, flowers and the phrase “Give Thanks with a Joyful Heart.” The turkey’s wing has the year 1621 stitched on it, which is the year of the first “Thanksgiving,” but you could leave that off if you don’t think that particular date is worth remembering.

It is 133 by 72 stitches and shown worked on 35ct. Weeks Dye Works fabric. It uses 10 colors and the design comes out to 8.31 by 4.5 inches when stitched. The designer recommends a 9 by 5 inch piece of fabric to have space around the design when you display it or turn it into a pillow as shown.

A lot of the designs here are billed as pinkeepers, and you can see that this one is, too, because it has some pins in it in the photo, but you could just use it as a display pillow rather than a pincushion if you’d rather. Some of the designs make strawberry shaped pin cushions, which is a cute spin on the classic mass produced tomato pin cushion.

I also love the Miss Isabelle Black pattern, which is a black cat wearing a dress and cardigan, holding a candy pumpkin, and visiting with some of her crow and mouse friends. It’s a fun one for Halloween that doesn’t scream spooky season but still has a touch of Halloween spirit.

Scattered Seed Samplers patterns ship from Wisconsin.

[Photo: Scattered Seed Samplers.]

The cross stitcher behind the blog Sirious Stitches is quite into biscornu.

If you’re not, a quick primer: biscornu are three-dimensional cross-stitched objects with eight points, often with an indention in the middle that makes them look a bit like doughnuts without the hole. They can be just about any size and subject you can think of. They’re often used as pincushions but can also be seasonal decor or just decoration for any time of year.

I’ve got a collection of biscornu cross stitch patterns here.

Once you’ve stitched one or several (they are a little addicting) you might wonder what you can add to them to make them even more extra.

It very much depends on the design of your biscornu and the look you are going for, but Sirious Stitches has a great post all about some of the options you might consider.

I don’t want to give you the whole list because you need to go visit and see all of their great biscornu they’ve stitched, but one really easy thing that you can do with a lot of designs is take advantage of that center indent by adding a button, beads, silk flower or another embellishment.

This is great to do just with a basic button from your stash that coordinates with the design and colors of the cross stitching, but it’s extra fun if you have a button that’s on theme, such as a leaf for a fall biscornu or a flower shaped button for a floral design. Add a jingle bell to a Christmas pattern, or a charm if you don’t have a button that coordinates.

Just this one idea is sure to get you thinking about ways to embellish biscornu (not to mention other cross stitch projects) but head over to Sirious Stitches to see all of their ideas for embellishing biscornu to make these already fun projects even more fun.

Have you ever made biscornu? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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