Cross-Stitch

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Make Stitching Big Charts Easier by Gridding Your Fabric

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how to grid cross stitch fabric

This is a super brilliant thing to do if you are working on a large cross stitch project and getting a little lost or your stitches aren’t ending up quite where they are supposed to be.

When working from a large chart you can make grid lines on your cross-stitch fabric and on your chart, which makes it so much easier to find where you are in the pattern and where your stitches need to go as you are working.

Peacock and Fig has a full tutorial on how to do this. I feel like this makes it a little easier to work without having to be completely focused at every moment; just pay attention to the section of the grid that you are on.

Have you ever gridded your cross stitch fabric, or do you like to live dangerously? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

[Photo: Peacock and Fig.]

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Designer Spotlight: Curious Carrie Designs

If you like seasonal samplers and cross stitch patterns with a primitive twist, you’ll enjoy the collection from Curious Carrie Designs.

You’ll find alphabet designs, biscornu, patriotic projects and more. The summer category is the largest on the storefront, with Americana and floral designs. There are also categories for the other seasons and more general designs.

One of my favorites is this pretty sunflower cross stitch pattern, which is shown styled as a biscornu but it wouldn’t have to be. The pattern features sunflowers and bees and a little beehive. It uses 12 colors of floss and each side of the pattern is 51 by 51 stitches, which comes out to 3.64 inches or 9.2 cm square.

I love the fabric she used for the sample, which she actually dyed purple herself, but it would also be pretty on a purchased light blue or other color if you don’t want to dye your own.

There’s also a whole set of themed biscornu with a four letter word on one side (crow, home, love and snow, to name a few) along with a seasonal pattern on the other side.

The shop has a rather small selection at around 90 patterns as of this writing, but it’s a nice collection of traditional looking designs heavy on samplers and biscornu designs, so if those are things you like you’ll want to be sure to check it out. Visit Curious Carrie Designs on Etsy to see all her pretty designs.

Are you a designer or do you have a favorite cross stitch designer who hasn’t made it into the spotlight yet? (You can see all the featured designers in the craft businesses category on the page.) Let me know in the comments, or you can submit more detailed information by clicking on “suggest a craft” at the center top of the page.

[Photo: Curious Carrie Designs]