Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Review: Cute Kawaii Cross Stitch

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Kawaii is a style that has taken over around the world, and it is found in lots of different crafting genres, too. Kawaii cross stitch patterns are usually small, colorful and have smiling faces to add to their adorableness.

Sosae and Dennis Caetano, the designers behind Trellis and Thyme, have collected more than 400 cute little cross stitch designs in their book Cute Kawaii Cross Stitch.

There’s a brief introduction to cross stitching at the beginning of the book, but it’s mostly about the patterns, which are organized into general themes (a few of the patterns included are listed just to give you a taste):

  • Fruits and veggies like watermelon, fig, banana, jalapeno, carrot, button mushroom, leek, strawberry and corn
  • Sweet treats such as a rootbeer float, banana split, gumball machine, frosted cupcake, doughnut, churros and a fudge sundae
  • Yummy food, which includes things like a blueberry muffin, soft-boiled egg, hamburger, burrito, Sriracha, salad, kimchi, shrimp cocktail and toast
  • In the kitchen, with such options as a teacup, blender, microwave, pitcher of juice, frying pan, mixer, wok and French press
  • Adorable animals like a narwahl, hedgehog, mouse, iguana, tiger, giraffe, guinea pig and unicorn
  • Spring themed designs such as a bluebird, potted fruit tree, tulip, watering can, chocolate bunny, wheelbarrow, rain boot, birdhouse and dragonfly
  • Summer projects like a sailboat, camper, roller skate, little island, crab, tent, grill, flamingo and lighthouse
  • Projects made for fall such as a pumpkin, bubbling cauldron, mushroom, apple pie, witch’s hat, smore, apple bushel, haunted house and a pumpkin spice latte, of course
  • Winter designs including a plum pudding, Christmas tree, sleigh, holiday sweater, snowman, a lightbulb-style ornament, snow globe and gingerbread man

Each design is charted in color and a key at the side of each page shows the DMC number for each color used. Each design also indicates the full size of the project (most are meant to fit into 3-inch hoops) and skill level. Patterns are raked easy, medium or advanced, but the more complicated ones mostly just use more colors, they’re not actually that hard to stitch.

If you love kawaii designs, little cross stitch patterns or stitching everyday and holiday objects, you’re sure to enjoy the array of projects found in Cute Kawaii Cross Stitch. 

About the book: 128 pages, paperback, 400 patterns. Published 2023 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?

Toy Story Cross Stitch Patterns

I’m going to go ahead and admit that I totally missed Toy Story 4, so it took my by surprise when Toy Story 5 came out, but let’s celebrate with some Toy Story cross stitch patterns. 

This sweet design including Woody, Buzz and Jessie is from The Xstitch Shop, and they actually have a few different Toy Story options. This one says it is for intermediate stitches, probably because of the size and number of colors, but the sales page doesn’t say how big it is or how many colors it uses. It’s still cute, though!

If you’ve got a fan of Jessie in your household, this collection of Jessie themed icons is super cute to stitch. The design is from Mercury Stitches and it measures 97 by 144 stitches. that comes out to 6.9 by 10.3 inches, or 17.6 by 26.1 cm, and uses 11 colors. It has full and half cross stitches, as well as back stitching and French knots. 

Share the love of friendship with this sweet Woody and Buzz heart hands cross stitch pattern from Pixell Patterns. This design uses eight colors and is shown worked on 14 count fabric, but the notes don’t indicate how bit is is (based on a finished project photo, though, it looks pretty big). 

And for the Buzz Lightyear fans, of course we have to have a “To infinity and beyond” pattern, so here’s one from Silver Lake Stitches. This design is super cute on blue fabric, but use whatever you have. It measures 78 by 92 stitches, which comes out to 5.6 by 6.6 inches, or 14.2 by 16.7 cm, on 14 count fabric. It calls for 14 colors. 

Or if you want to go beyond the core three main character toys, check out this project from ThreeOOne Patterns, which includes our main toys as well as Bo Peep and her sheep, Bullseye the horse, the Slinky dog, Rex, Ham, the Potato Heads and an alien. The design is 310 by 80 stitches, which comes out to 21.14 by 3.5 inches, or 53.7 by 8.9 cm, when worked on 14 count fabric. It uses 65 colors. Or pick out your favorite characters to make a smaller project. 

All those characters and a few more are found on the mini Toy Story character sampler from Knotalot UK (only part of which is shown above). This one uses 31 colors and measures 134 by 108 stitches. It includes whole and fractional stitches, as well as back stitching. On 14 count fabric stitching the whole thing would make a project that’s 9.57 by 7.71 inches, or 24.31 by 19.59 cm.