How to Cross Stitch on a Chair

I love seeing different ways that cross stitch can be worked on unusual surfaces, from strainers to chain link fences and more. One slightly more common way to add cross stitch to your home without using cross stitch fabric is to stitch on a chair base.

Chairs that have woven ratan backs and/or bases are a marker of mid-century design through the 1970s and ’80s, but there are a lot of options currently for sale if you don’t want to hunt one down at a vintage store or garage sale. Because the open blocks are built into the furniture, it’s not that difficult to imagine what cross stitch will look like on the surface.

If you have a chair you want to stitch on, or you just want to be inspired by other people’s work, check out this tutorial from Bobo Stitch all about how to stitch on a chair base. The chair they used has a round base and a long oval piece on the back of the chair that had space for stitching. (They found it on eBay.)

The post walks you through all the tools you will need to be able to cover your chair with cross stitch. They actually used ribbon to do the stitching, but you could use wool yarn or even thick cotton yarn if you wanted.

It doesn’t look like a super difficult project but I can see how it might be tedious because it’s not as easy to stitch on a chair as it is to stitch on fabric. And if you are doing a set of chairs this won’t be a quick project, but it’s well worth the effort if you want to add a bit of color and funky boho style to your chairs.

Would you do this to a chair? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Bobo Stitch]

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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