Stitch a Set of Ocean Themed Projects

I love this collection of ocean themed cross stitch patterns from The Stitch Patterns on Etsy. This set of eight patterns includes:

some small fish and coral
a pair of dolphins
a spotted fish
a crab
some shells and seaweed/coral
a stingray
a sea turtle
a humpback whale

Each design has a background of pastel coral and they all call for the same colors of floss, giving them a harmonious look. Most of the projects seem to use three or four colors (plus a little bit of black for eyes and other details), while the fish pattern adds in bright orange. I think it would be fun to do a little bit of that color in each design even though it’s not shown that way just to tie them all together if you happen to be stitching the whole set individually, as shown.

When stitched on 14 count fabric, each project is 5 by 7 inches/12.7 by 17.78 cm, so they’re perfect for framing all together. But even if you only want to stitch one or two of them, they would be a great addition to a beach themed room or to start you on your coastal grandma journey.

You can buy the whole set from The Stitch Patterns, or you can check out all their adorable ocean-themed projects here.

Looking for more cross stitch projects to decorate your beach house or keep you dreaming of the beach? Here are some more options for you:

I also love this set of mini beach themed cross stitch patterns, which would be fun to use as a border on just about any of the above listed patterns. Or stitch them on your linens for all your clam bakes and lobster roll dining experiences.

[Photo: The Stitch Patterns]

Next Pattern:

A Cross Stitch I Spy at the Beach

A while back I made a little rainbow cross stitch pattern and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, so I turned it into a patch. My idea was that it could be used on a jacket or backpack, or you could add a pin to the back and wear it temporarily on a shirt or elsewhere.

But what if you want to make your design more permanent? Is it possible to turn a piece of cross stitch into an iron-on design?

It turns out yes, it is, and Sirious Stitches has done it so I didn’t have to try to figure it out on my own.

The way they did it was by using HeatnBond, an iron-on adhesive that attaches fabrics without sewing. There was still sewing involved to finish the edges of the cross stitch fabric and make it look like a purchased patch. The post shows how to do this by hand or with your sewing machine. (I just did blanket stitch edging on mine, which doesn’t look like a “real” patch but is also a lot faster.)

Once you have the patch prepared it’s a pretty easy matter of using the fusible adhesive to the back of the patch so you can then iron it onto whatever jacket, pair of jeans, bag or whatever else you might want to add it to.

I guess I’m a little paranoid about the washability of cross stitch projects, though you could hand wash anything with an iron-on cross stitch patch as you might need to with a purchased iron-on patch, anyway. But this does look really cool and is a great option if you know you want to permanently add a cross stitch patch to a garment of bag.

Get the full tutorial over at Sirious Stitches. Would you add an iron-on cross stitch patch to something? I’d love to hear what you would use this technique for!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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