How to Work Confetti Stitches in Cross Stitch

Do you know the term confetti stitch when it comes to cross stitch? This is a term that is used for when there are single stitches scattered around the canvas. It’s often used for things like a sky full of stars or snow falling on a scene.

It looks great but it can be intimidating because there’s nowhere to hide your thread ends when you have stitches that are isolated from all the other stitches on the project. You don’t want to use one long thread and just hop around to where all the stitches are, because the thread might show through or get in the way when you need to stitch other stitches. Not to mention its probably a waste of thread.

So what do you do? How you can both hide and secure the ends of your thread to make individual stitches and last?

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has an amazing blog post that covers all the options you have when working individual stitches of a color (you can also use these when single stitches of a color appear within the main design rather than isolated.

There are options here for when you are using odd or even numbers of threads, and ones that work better on different kinds of cross stitch fabric. I’m mostly familiar with the loop method, where you make a loop with the tail of your thread and use that to secure the thread end, but there are several other options explored here, too.

It also explains which techniques are best for different types of projects, when you might want to work the confetti stitches first in a project and when to work them last, thread conservation techniques and more. This is basically everything you need to know about working single cross stitches in a project and I should just stop talking about it so you can head to Caterpillar Cross Stitch and check it our for yourself.

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

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