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?

How to Add Text to a Cross Stitch Project

One of the easiest ways to make a cross stitch project more personal is to add text to it. Whether you’re adding the names of people getting married to a generic floral cross stitch design, birth information to a project on theme with the new baby’s room or just adding a word or phrase that’s meaningful to you, adding words to cross stitch projects make them that much more special. 

But if you’re not working with a project that already has text built in, or you want to change the text that’s there, that can feel a little daunting. 

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has a great guide to adding names and words (as well as numbers) to projects, which talks you through what to consider and how to actually go about adding text to a cross stitch project successfully. 

You’ll need to think about what kind of font you want to use and if you’re using back stitched letters or larger filled letters, how much space you need and how the letters work together in the text you’re planning to make sure it’s readable. 

Their post includes common pitfalls such as running out a space or ending up with text that’s off center and how to avoid them (spoiler: chart out your text before you stitch!). 

The whole post is really helpful if you’ve never added lettering to a project before and don’t know where to start. I like to use block letters in back stitch when learning how to add text to cross stitch, but of course there are tons of lettering options. Check out this collection of cross stitch fonts if you want to see some different things you can try. 

And head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch to get more tips for how to successfully add lettering to your cross stitch projects. They also have their own alphabet and number charts you can buy to add text to your stitching. 

Have you ever added text to a cross stitch project? I’d love to hear how it went!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]