Reasons to Love Small Cross Stitch Designs

June 21, 2025 by Sarah White Leave a Comment

This post is inspired by a post I saw over at Caterpillar Cross Stitch about why small cross stitch patterns are great, but I can tell you my own stories of cross stitching woes, too.

I have always been a fan of small projects because I just don’t have that much stamina when it comes to cross stitch (or much else). I feel like an hour of knitting or crocheting gets you a lot more to show for your time than an hour of cross stitch, especially when you’re working on a complicated project.

Which is why a project I started for my daughter probably more than a year ago is still unrecognizable as its subject because I’ve barely done any work on it. (I’d like it to be done either for her birthday in September or for Christmas, so I’d better get over my big-project issues and get to stitching.)

The post covers a lot of reasons to love small projects, including that they are light on your budget (both monetary and time wise). It also looks at the basic supplies you need for projects big or small and gives you lots of ideas for how to use small cross stitch projects as decor or to make into gifts.

There are also tips for success when working on small projects. You might think it’s fine to rush but attention to detail is super important when you’re working on a small scale because a misplaced stitch or two can really make a difference when there are relatively few stitches in your project to start with.

Check out the post over at Caterpillar Cross Stitch, and let me know what you love about small cross stitch patterns. Or if you’re a fan of the epic projects, let me know that, too. Maybe you’ll convince me to give it more of a try!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]

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Designer Spotlight: Crystal Feather Crafts

If you like landscapes, animals and floral cross stitch patterns with a big does of cuteness, odds are good you’ll find something you want to stitch at Crystal Feather Crafts. This Etsy shop has more than 200 patterns with a focus on nature and often a cute touch.

For example in the animals section you’ll find adorable little dinosaurs, lots of sweet cats and a corgi butt. I love the maneki neko cat shown here, which really pops on dark blue fabric but would be pretty on whatever color you have handy.

This design is 74 by 102 stitches, which comes out to 5.3 by 7.3 inches on 14 count fabric (or 13.4 by 18.5 cm).

In addition to adorable animals you’ll find some pretty standard landscapes (heavy on the mountains), dainty floral designs and some bees, butterflies, moths and other insects that are more realistic than the other animals.

There are also some sweet holiday patterns for Christmas and Halloween (love all those cute little ghosts!), and a few more general autumn ones as well (featuring mushrooms, pumpkins and the like). A handful of other patterns are listed as being for the home, funny (a few cartoony sushis here among other things), alphabets and more.

If you like their designs as of this writing you can get 30 percent off your purchase when you buy three patterns at the same time. Check them out at Crystal Feather Crafts.

And if you are a cross stitch designer or you know a cross stitch designer you would like to see featured here at Craft Gossip, let me know in the comments. Or you can drop me a link and some more information about what makes you/them special by filling out the form you get when you click “suggest a craft” at the middle top of the page. Thanks for your help!

[Photo: Crystal Feather Crafts]

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