How to Turn a Photo or Drawing into a Cross-Stitch Pattern

One of the most common questions I see online when it comes to designing patterns is how to turn a photo or drawing into a cross stitch pattern. It’s not actually that difficult, especially if the project isn’t too detailed, but there are also some ways to make it easier.

If you want to draw it out yourself by hand, these instructions from WikiHow cover the basics. You’ll need a light box (or a window) to help you trace the general outlines of your design and sketch in any details. You’ll also need gridded paper of the same count that you plan to use for your design (this helps get the scale right), which you can find here.

Once you have the general outline you’ll have to decide if you want to use partial stitches to follow the exact outlines of shapes or shift the design a little to keep with whole stitches. You can also pick your colors and choose to color in the chart or use different symbols to indicate the different colors (or both!).

If you don’t want to have to draw your cross stitch pattern out completely on your own, you can use a program like StitchFiddle to do it for you. With StitchFiddle you can choose your craft (knitting, crochet, cross stitch and more) and the brand of floss you use, then upload a photo or start with a blank chart to make your own design. You can even make QR codes to stitch.

You can alter the number of colors, the fabric count and the size and it will adjust your chart accordingly. (I don’t think you can save without an account, but it’s fun to play with to see what your chart will look like before you subscribe.)

Another option is to have someone else make the chart for you. This is a service that DMC offers on its website. You just upload your photo and indicate what size fabric you want to use. Then you’ll either pay for the chart itself, or they will send you the chart for free if you buy all the thread for the project at the same time.

Have you ever made a cross stitch chart from a photo or drawing? I’d love to hear your tips!

[Photo: DMC]

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Printable Cross Stitch Graph Paper

Amanda G Cross Stitch is the place to go if you love floral cross stitch patterns and projects with a scrapbooky feel. Almost all of her designs include flowers, and a lot of them are spring flowers, making her projects perfect to stitch in the springtime.

It’s hard to pick one to show but there are several designs that include flowers in teacups, like this one with irises in a teacup with, you guessed it, flowers on the side.

The design is 97 by 107 stitches, which comes out close to 8 by 8 inches, or around 20 cm, when using 14 count fabric or 28 count evenweave. The pattern uses 24 colors and includes full stitches, a few fractional stitches and backstitch. You could change up the color of the flowers on the cup if you want to match your decor or the color of actual teacups you own.

Another common design motif is what she calls her sketchbook series, which is the ones that look like scrapbook pages I mentioned at the top. It’s like stitching a page from someone’s nature journal as these designs include birds, flowers, butterflies and art supplies scattered about. They’d be great to stitch for the gardener or nature lover in your life.

In addition to these, there are a few Christmas designs including florals, doorways and robins; some blackwork patterns and a few wreath designs. And just because I love them I have to share this cute puffin cross stitch pattern, too. There are also a few patterns credited to Rebecca Gregory, who I assume from the content is Amanda’s daughter.

Check out all the fun and colorful (yes, mostly floral) designs at Amanda G Cross Stitch on Etsy.

Have a favorite cross stitch designer who hasn’t yet been in the spotlight? Let me know in the comments!

[Photo: Amanda G Cross Stitch]

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