Stitch a Bookmark Covered with Autumn Leaves

I’m going to be on a leave kick here for a little while because I’m so excited they’re finally turning and falling a little bit where I live.

This little cross-stitch leaf panel from Nancy Spruance Designs is perfect as a bookmark, and you can make the leaves all green, all fall colors or show a transition from green to brown or anything in between. She suggests colors to make the leaves transition as shown, but you can do whatever you like. Maybe even try a variegated thread to make color changes within the leaves easier.

I turned the chart sideways to make the picture fit our blog better, and you likewise could work the leaves in any direction, even lining them up tip to stem if you want.

You could also run a repeating pattern of leaves down the center of a table runner, or even use the leaves as a “frame” for another fall-themed cross-stitch project.

[Photo via Nanacy Spruance Designs.]

Looking for more Bookmark charts and cross-stitch patterns? Check these out on Etsy

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]

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