Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Martin Luther King, Jr. Cross Stitch Patterns

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Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is an important holiday in the United States acknowledging the civil rights movement and King’s legacy of both nonviolent resistance and pushing against the system in the hope of changing things for the better for everyone.

Working a cross stitch pattern inspired by Martin Luther King would give you a lot of time to think about his legacy and a tangible reminder of all the work there still is to do in America and elsewhere to achieve true equality. Maybe you can stitch while listening to some of his speeches or watching a documentary about his life and legacy.

I love this MLK portrait from Eccentric Avenue on Etsy. It comes out to 10 by 8 inches on 14 count fabric and can be worked as a cross stitch, needlepoint or petit point pattern. 

Twin Stitch Studios adds a famous quote to their portrait of King, which comes out to 110 by 107 stitches or 6.9 by 6.7 inches on 16 count fabric.

The same quote is worked onto a classic sampler style design in this project from Stone Street Stitch. I like the juxtaposition of old-fashioned stitching with a timeless quote. This design is 93 by 131 stitches, which comes out to 6.5 by 9.4 inches on 14 count fabric.

And lest we forget King the radical, we’ve also got a cross stitch reminder that a riot is the language of the unheard. This one is from Bitchin Stitchin and fits in a 6-inch hoop when stitched on 14 count fabric. And this one from preseverate, with a reminder that America is still a racist country. This one is really big, so the designer recommends stitching it on 20 or 22 count fabric (and even on 22 count its still 13.7 by 5.3 inches at 301 by 116 stitches). The good news is it only uses one color of thread,  but you’re going to need a lot of it!

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Cross Stitch Creatures from the Sea

Last fall I came across this cross stitch pattern for a sea turtle and I talked myself out of sharing it right away because tropical animals don’t feel like a “fall” thing, but now that it’s summer again, let’s take a look at some cross stitch patterns for creatures that live in or around the sea. 

This sea turtle design from Witch Wolf Web Creations is literally just a chart with no grid to help you count stitches or suggested colors, but I would print it out and add a grid to make it easier to stitch. You can work it in many colors as shown, or there’s also a black and white version so you could just do it in a single color. 

Stitch up some fish or a seahorse with this bundle of four tropical fish cross stitch patterns from LaSelva Design. It includes a clownfish, seahorse, moorish idol and blue tang, all of which vary in size and colors used, but they’re all really cute. 

Or you can stitch a tank’s worth of tropical fish with this project from SamXstitch. There are 22 fish in all on this project, which measures 153 by 153 stitches. On 14 count fabric that’s 10.93 inches or 27.75 cm. It uses 15 colors. 

I also love the jewel-toned fishies on this project from Velvet Pony Design. This one has seven fish and a seahorse and measures 113 by 140 stitches. That’s just over 8 by 10 inches or 20.5 by 25.4 cm on 14 count fabric, though you can make it smaller with a higher fabric count. It calls for 24 colors. 

This vintage design from Past Pattern Palooza Co has a whole school of little fish. The design is 120 by 260 stitches and uses 30 colors. It measures 8.57 by 18.57 inches (21.7 by 47.2 cm) on 14 count fabric. The pattern notes say there are 69 designs in total, an individual fish range from 1.5 to 3 inches, or 4.5 to 8 cm. 

You can stitch up a whole tropical world complete with coral using this design from Easy Stitching Outlet (though I don’t think this one is particularly easy). At 219 by 95 stitches, on 14 count fabric it will come out to 15.6 by 6.8 inches, or 39.73 by 17.24 cm.