Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

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

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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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D&D Cross Stitch Patterns

My husband is a D&D player from way back and still does role playing with his friends most weekends. There are lots of great D&D cross stitch patterns, but somehow the ones that caught my eye this time have a theme of being about the D&D classes or involving dice (or both). 

I love this collection of the D&D classes done as tarot cards. These would be so fun to stitch up for all the people in your party, or make the full set as one big wall hanging for the game room. There are 16 patterns total (just a few are shown here) and each one just uses three colors. The designs are from GlitchStitchAU.

This set kind of reminds me of astrological signs, though I can’t really say why. This set of 16 designs from White Raven Patterns is color coordinated so it sort of makes a rainbow if you stitch all of them. The dungeon master one is more colorful. Each one uses five or six colors and fits in a 10-inch hoop. 

Combining character classes and dice we get this set of 14 designs from Stitch it Picasso. Each one includes the class name and a die with a number on it, as well as some images that make sense for that class (the bard has a lute and music notes, for example). Each design is around 90 by 90 stitches and they use 13 to 19 colors each, depending on the design. 

Or you can make patches that look like dice with this D20 dice bundle from Non Player Creation. The patches are inspired by the four seasons, but you could change up the colors to suit your campaign setting if you like. They are 31 by 35 stitches and use between nine and 12 colors depending on the season. 

And speaking of D20s, this little dragon might be protecting your dice or cursing them, it’s hard to tell. It’s kind of cute, though! The design is from Cross Stitch Wow and measures 80 by 95 stitches. It fits in an 8-inch hoop and uses 16 colors.