Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Review: Pokemon Cross Stitch

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pokemon cross stitch book reviewIt doesn’t seem like the popularity of Pokemon is slowing down, and it’s always fun to stitch characters from pop culture as gifts or for yourself if that’s a fandom you belong to. My daughter never got into Pokemon, but her best friend loves it, so when I saw Pokemon Cross Stitch from Maria Diaz I wanted to check it out.

The book includes 54 patterns for different Pokemon characters, though some projects have more than one Pokemon in them and some are repeated. Pikachu, for example, is in eight of the projects, with Eevee; Piplup; Scorbunny; Cramorant; Pichu and Raichu; Grooky; Sobble; and by itself.

You’re likely to find a favorite in this collection since there are so many patterns.

Each project includes a full-color chart, floss color charts and a skill rating between 1 and 3 Pokeballs. The first 20 projects in the book are also shown fully stitches, while the rest are just shown in chart form. There are also cute illustrations of the characters in each piece, and a little fun fact about them.

A section on cross stitch basics covers materials, how to use a hoop, how to keep the edges of your work from fraying, how to find the center of your fabric and how to read patterns and make different stitches, among other things.

If you’ve never stitched before you might want a little more basic how-to information than this book provides, but it would also be a fun gift for someone who likes Pokemon who you might be trying to get interested in starting cross stitch (or who might already have an interest in cross stitch).

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 54 patterns. Published 2023 by David and Charles. Suggested retail price $19.99.

And if you’re looking for more Poekmon cross stitch patterns, check out this roundup of Pokemon cross stitch I did a long time ago!

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Quick Tip: How to Keep Cross Stitch Fabric from Fraying

One of the most common problems that cross stitchers at all skill levels have is that the cross stitch fabric can start fraying while you stitch.

Beginner cross stitchers might wonder why this happens and if there is something they are doing wrong to cause it.

The reason cross stitch fabric frays is because it is a woven fabric, and the nature of any kind of woven fabric (whether that’s cross stitch fabric, a torn up towel or a piece of fabric you’re going to sew) is that it wants to fray.

It’s not necessarily a huge deal if you cross stitch fabric starts fraying mid-project if you have left a lot of extra fabric around your stitching. But if there’s not much fabric to spare in order to be able to finish the project the way you want, you’ll want to do something to stop the fraying.

When I was growing up I remember my mom using masking tape for this purpose, but it turns out there are lots of different things that you can do to stop your cross stitch fabric from fraying.

Craft with Cartwright came up with 15 different things that you can try, which seems like a lot, but that just means you have lots of different things you can try.

If you don’t want to buy something, you can stitch along the edges. If you already have supplies like tape or glue, or access to pinking shears or a serger, there are lots of options you can try.

Some of these are more permanent than others, so it will depend a little bit on how you want to finish your cross stitch project as to which is the best choice for you. It’s a great idea to read through the whole list just so you can have them in the back of yoru mind the next time you start a project and think about how you would like to protect it.

You can find the whole list at Craft with Cartwright.

How do you like to stop fraying on your cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Craft with Cartwright]