Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

How to Transfer a Cross Stitch Pattern to Your Fabric

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When working small cross stitch projects, it’s easy enough to follow along with the chart and always know where you are. You can start from the center and work out, or start from a corner and work across and up and down as needed without too much trouble. 

But when it comes to working bigger projects, especially if you’re new to cross stitch (or to big projects) you might want a little more help to keep you in the right place on you pattern. 

I’m a fan of gridding cross stitch fabric to help you visualize where you are in the pattern. Because the chart generally will have thicker lines every 10 stitches and 10 rows, you can make those same marks on your fabric and use that grid to help orient yourself in the pattern and on your fabric. 

But there are other options, a few of which Crewel Ghoul shares in their post all about transferring cross stitch patterns to the fabric. 

The post includes an idea you’re going to have to see to believe, where someone used colored pencils to draw the whole pattern, stitch by stitch, before actually stitching it. 

It reminds me of printed or stamped cross stitch patterns, but very DIY. I’m not sure I could be that patient, or that accurate, but it would definitely reassure you that you’re in the right place and using the right color (as long as you keep good track of which color represented which color of floss). 

I would love to know if this is something you would try or if you have another method you use to help you keep track of where you are in a cross stitch pattern. 

Go check out the post at Crewel Ghoul for all her advice on transferring patterns to cross stitch fabric, and let me know what you think. Which methods have you tried or would you like to try?

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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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.