Stitch Detailed Designs from Nature with Fiber on a Whim

I’ve been sort of randomly featuring cross stitch designers that I found through a list of designers at Stitching Jules, and this week’s highlight is Fiber on a Whim.

This designer only has five charts available (and two of them can be purchased as kits) but they sure are pretty.

The designs are mostly of flowers, with one bird, and they use lots of colors and deep details to give you a lifelike effect. Since there are so few I’m just going to mention all of them:

Dahlia
Peony
Carolina spicebush
Kentucky iris (not sure what makes it a Kentucky iris, it looks like a regular purple iris, but maybe that’s actually what they’re called and growing up in Arkansas I just never learned that)
Standing tall, pictured above, is a bird on a little perch, I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to be a painted bunting

Speaking of the bird design, that one measures 82 by 94 stitches and uses 24 colors. If you stitch it on 14 count fabric it comes out to 4.56 inches by 5.22 inches, and what a pretty little work of art that would be.

Because of the level of detail and number of colors used (the lowest number of colors used on a project is 23), I wouldn’t recommend these designs for beginning stitchers, but if you’re comfortable with complex charts and lots of colors these designs are a great choice.

Make them for your friends who garden or are bird watchers, or hang them somewhere in your house where you will see them through the winter to remind you that brighter days are ahead.

If you want to check out some of the other indie designers I’ve profiled, here’s a quick list:

Are you an indie designer or do you have a favorite designer you’d like me to share? Click Suggest a DIY at the top of the page and tell me all about it!

[Photo: Fiber on a Whim]

30 + Bird Cross Stitch Patterns

If you’re a nature enthusiast or simply appreciate the beauty of our avian friends, you’re in for a treat. From majestic eagles to adorable robins, our curated selection of cross-stitch patterns celebrates the diverse and enchanting world of birds.

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]

Have you read?