Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Stitch Samplers and Other Historic Inspired Designs

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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]

 

Have you read?

How to Add Text to a Cross Stitch Project

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]