Cross-Stitch

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How to Choose the Perfect Color Fabric for Your Cross Stitch Project

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aida colors for cross stitch

When I was a kid, pretty much the only colors of cross-stitch fabric you could buy where I lived were white and cream (or what’s called Ivory in the picture above). I don’t even remember black Aida fabric being around, though I’m sure you could buy it at a crafts store or specialty shop.

These days there are a whole lot more options, from different colors and shades to fabric that’s printed with patterns you can stitch right on top of.

All this choice is amazing, but it can also be somewhat daunting, especially if you are trying to buy online and you aren’t sure exactly what color you’re looking at.

Stitched Modern has a great guide to some basic Aida colors for cross-stitching that will help you see the differences between different colors of “white” and “black” so you can pick the best one for your project.

Do you have favorite places online to buy cross-stitch supplies? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Stitched Modern.]

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Comments

  1. So interesting you should post this regarding backing fabrics for stitching. Have been researching the various ones and have come up with 4 (Burlap, Linen, Monks, Warp) Out of the 4 reviewed on youtube “Standard Warp” is recommended for ease of use and longevity but let me tell you there is only one place I have found that sells it and there are no coupon offers for discounts.

Have you read?

Cross Stitch Patterns for Fall

Through the years I’ve shared plenty of fall and especially Halloween themed cross stitch patterns, but today I wanted to look at fall projects that don’t have anything to do with spooky season. Here’s proof that pumpkins are an all fall thing, along with leaves, acorns and sunflowers. 

The Pumpkin Season cross stitch pattern from the appropriately names Autumn Andrea has lots of pumpkins as well as fall flowers and leaves. The project is 280 by 235 stitches, which comes out to 20 by 16.79 inches (that’s 50.8 by 42.6 cm). If I can count properly it uses 51 colors. 

Teeny Weeny X Stitch has a set of 20 fall landscape cross stitch patterns, and you can stitch up one, some or the whole bunch. There are lots of trees, a couple of streams and a could of houses out in the woods, among other views. The designs vary in size a little bit but they’re all around 40 by 44 stitches (smaller than 3.3 inches/8.3 cm) when worked on 14 count fabric. If you were to stitch all of them you would need 25 colors. 

This collection of fall leaves and acorns from Box and Fox looks really familiar to me but I can’t find that I’ve shared it before so here it is. I love the graphic quality of the leaves on this one and how it feels like you could display it all the way through Thanksgiving. It is 100 by 100 stitches, or about 7.1 inches/18.14 cm square on 14 count fabric, and it uses 10 colors. 

A more rustic look comes from Blueberry Ridge Design with this Autumn Gathers pattern. It’s shown on 36 count linen and has a stitch count of 145 by 125. That comes out to 8.1 by 6.9 inches, or 20.5 by 17.5 cm. 

Probably my favorite of this whole bunch is the autumn bookshelf from Patterns by Rybka Stitch. This sweet shelf has fall-colored books as well as pumpkins, leaves and flowers. This one uses 27 colors as well as blends, and the design measures 88 by 81 stitches, which on 14 count fabric is 6.3 by 5.8 inches, or 16 by 15 cm.