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How to Dye Cross Stitch Fabric

February 14, 2025 by Sarah White

When I was learning to cross stitch as a kid, there were not a lot of options when it came to the color of cross stitch fabric. Other things may have been available, but in that age before the Internet I had access to what was in my local crafts store or the craft section of the big box store (which wasn’t that big back then). So that was pretty much white and ecru, and maybe black or dark blue.

There are a lot more options available these days, even at the big box craft store in town. Add the Internet and you can get an array of colors, patterns and designs like this pretty galaxy fabric or muted mottled prints.

But sometimes you might want a particular color of cross stitch fabric that isn’t available, or that is expensive or you want to use something you already have in your stash. In those cases you might want to dye your own cross stitch fabric.

It makes sense that this wouldn’t be any more difficult or really a different process at all than dyeing other fabric, but sometimes it’s helpful to see someone else do it before you try it just to reassure yourself that you know what you’re doing.

In that case I direct you to this helpful tutorial from Stitching Corner, in which they turned plain cross stitch fabric into tye-dyed fabric using commercially available dyes.

The main thing to note before trying this at home is that the fabric you have is compatible with the dye you have (so if your fabric is cotton use a dye that works on cotton, for example).

Check the post for the step by step details of how to dye cross stitch fabric with a single color or a couple at once. Would you or have you tried this? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Stitching Corner]

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Cross Stitch Sheep Projects

As a knitter, I love a good sheep motif, so let’s take a look at some cute sheep cross stitch patterns. 

If you want to stitch a little sheep, this mini square from Good Dog Needleworks is a nice choice. It uses just three colors and measures 32 by 32 stitches. That’s 2.2 inches or about 5.5 cm square if you stitch it on 14 count fabric. 

I also love these two little sheep, which you can stitch together or in individual hoops and shown. The designs are form Threadbound Art and use six colors. They are slightly different in size, with one being 21 by 17 stitches and the other 21 by 20. They fit in four inch frames if you work them on 14 count fabric. 

You can stitch a sweet sheep bookmark with this design from Kits by SA Stitch. This is not for the person who doesn’t like back stitch, because there’s a lot of that here, but it is really cute. It measures 30 by 91 stitches and uses 10 colors. That will make your bookmark about 2.4 by 6.5 inches, or 6 by 16.5 cm on 14 count fabric. 

Stitch a pretty scene of sheep in a meadow with this design from Motok Nytok. It uses 21 colors and the design is 99 by 73 stitches. On 14 count fabric that makes it about 7.07 by 5.21 inches, or 17.96 by 13.24 cm. 

This yarn full of cross stitch sheep has a bit of a knitting twist because the sheep all look like they have sweaters on. The design is from Soda Stitch Design and it measures 179 by 216 stitches. The full design uses 27 colors. On 14 count fabric it will work out to 12.78 by 15.42 inches, or 32.48 by 39.19 cm. 

Another great one with a knitting theme is this one where the wool is coming off the sheep and straight onto the needles. This one is from Happy Cross Stitchers and uses 12 colors. The pattern is 137 by 137 stitches, which comes out to 9.7 inches or 24.86 cm square on 14 count fabric. This would be a fun one to stitch for the knitter in your life (even if that is you). 

Or you can stitch the field of sheep of a knitter’s dreams with the Happy Sheep chart from Charts and Stuff. These per-colored sheep can be stitched as shown or worked in any colors you like. The eyes are French knots but you can just stitch them in white if you’d rather. 

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