How to Grid Cross Stitch Fabric

I’ve started (just barely, as you can see) a relatively big/complicated cross stitch project (the Baba Yaga house from Happy Little Mouse I told you about a while ago) and I knew that for this project I was going to need a little help keeping track of where I was and what I needed to do next.

Adding grids to your cross stitch fabric is a quick and easy way to help yourself when you’re working on a big project. Your chart will have grids marking off every 10 stitches and every 10 rows, so having those same markings on your fabric can only make it easier for you to follow along.

There are a few main ways to do this, which include marking the grid with thread (either embroidery floss, sewing thread, thread marketed for this purpose, or even fishing line!) or using fabric marking tools to draw the grid. Using a ruler when you do this helps a lot. Mine are still not that straight.

You can also buy cross stitch fabric that’s already marked, which of course makes it a lot easier, but it’s kind of expensive.

When marking your fabric it helps to know where the center of your fabric is, as well as where the center of the chart is relative to the grid marks so you can line them up.

This makes it a lot easier to orient yourself in the chart, and if you have a lot of one color all together it can make it easier to count stitches. Say you had 23 stitches in a row of the same color; stitching across two squares plus three stitches is a lot easier to keep track of than having to manually count them as you go.

Want to learn more about gridding cross stitch fabric and why you would want to? Check out my post all about ways to grid cross stitch fabric over at Our Daily Craft.

[Photo: Our Daily Craft]

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45+ Free Disney Inspired Cross-Stitch Patterns

There are a lot of cute winter animals that I think don’t get the attention they deserve because they’re not necessarily Christmas related. We’re going to change that a little bit today with a look at some adorable penguin cross stitch patterns.

This first one is a little Christmas related in that the penguin is wearing a red and green hat and scarf, but you could absolutely change up the colors if you wanted to make it less holiday looking. The pattern is from Ecliptica Design and i ruses 16 colors in a design that’s 21 by 30 stitches. It comes out to 1.5 by 2.14 inches, or 3.8 by 5.5 cm, and only uses full stitches so it would be a good one for someone with a couple of projects under their belt who is looking for something a little more detailed than they might have worked before.

A more general winter one is this one from Starry Aloha Designs, which has a blue hat and scarf as well as hearts. You could even make this one all pink for Valentine’s Day if you wanted. The pattern is 58 by 62 stitches and uses six colors as written. If you work it on 14 count fabric it will fit in a 5-inch hoop.

Or try this round penguin in a little scarf surrounded by snowflakes from Geeky Stitches. This one is 53 by 51 stitches, which comes out to 3.79 by 3.64 inches (9.6 by 9.2 cm) on 14 count fabric. It uses five colors.

For a totally different look, try the penguin cross stitch pattern from Daily Cross Stitch. This one is the outline of a penguin filled with snowflake patterns.

Or how about a watercolor baby penguin? This adorable pattern from Laser Arts Designs has 170 by 230 stitches, which comes out to 12.1 by 16.4 inches, or 30.8 by 41.7 cm, on 14 count fabric. Laser Arts Designs projects typically include no more than 20 to 25 colors.

There’s also these mini baby penguin cross stitch patterns from LaSelva Design. Each of the five patterns fits in a 3-inch hoop, and while they are different sizes they’re all around 20 by 30 stitches.

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