Stitch Samplers and Other Historic Inspired Designs

I’m back with another look at a cross stitch designer I’ve learned about from wandering around online. This one is The Elegant Thread, which features a fun collection of samplers and other historic inspired cross stitch designs.

And a couple of wicked New England patterns, too.

The Elegant Thread offers cross stitch pattern downloads and printed patterns (not all are available as downloads) and needlework sets that include handmade fabric pouches using vintage fabrics, needle minders and embroidery scissors with custom coordinated beads scissor fobs.

All of which is great, but let’s talk about the patterns.

As with Fox and Rabbit Designs, which I featured recently, The Elegant Thread has some vintage reproduction sampler patterns, such as the one pictured that was originally stitched by Wilhelmine Scsmidt in 1884. It features several alphabets as well as Arabic and Roman numerals and the original stitcher’s name.

Among the digital downloads they also have several Victorian-inspired cross stitch patterns, a butterfly biscornu design and a couple of funny ones: hedge hugs, which is a Valentine’s Day hedgehog design, and Liberty Lobstah, a lobster decked out like the Statue of Liberty.

Looking at patterns that are sold as paper charts, you’ll find all of these as well as a few more samplers, based on historic samplers or inspired designs with a vintage look. There’s also a fun Paris inspired cross stitch pattern with the Eiffel Tower as the I in Paris, so you’ll want to check that out of you’re a fan of all things French!

In addition to all of the products mentions, The Elegant Thread also has a blog that includes five free cross stitch patterns. It hasn’t been updated in a while but it’s worth scrolling through if you’re looking for some alphabets or other projects with a vintage look.

[Photo: The Elegant Thread]

Next Pattern:

How to Make Scissor Fobs

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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