Cross-Stitch

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Stitch Some Iconic Women for Women’s History Month

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Women’s History Month is celebrated every March, but of course it’s always a good time to learn about amazing women from history and maybe make little versions of them in cross stitch. Because why not?

I shared a bunch of iconic ladies in cross stitch for Women’s History Month last year, and I wanted to try to find some more projects to share this year.

I love this little set of sort of chibi historical ladies from ThreeOOne Patterns on Etsy.

It includes 20 little figures, some of whom you definitely know and others might be less familiar to you. In fact the pattern listing doesn’t say who they all are so I’m not totally sure, but there’s definitely Mother Teresa, Amelia Earhart, Cleopatra, Sacajawea, Rosie the Riveter (OK, she’s not real, but still), Joan of Arc, Rosa Parks, Frida Kahlo, Wu Zeitan and one of the Brontes, I think, to name a few. There’s one that might be Josephine Baker? Maybe Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Hopefully each person is labelled in the pattern so you can know who you are stitching.

The full pattern is 196 by 308 stitches, which comes out to 14 by 22 inches or 35.5 by 55.8 cm if you use 14 count fabric. It uses 85 colors to stitch all of the ladies.

Of course you could just stitch a few of them or add one to a greeting card or another smaller project. I kind of like the idea of lining some of them up almost like a border on a project with a feminist quote or slogan. But having this whole set of amazing ladies on your wall would be sure to inspire you to greatness.

(And if you take a peek at the pattern and feel like you can identify more of the people, let me know. I think I know more of them than listed but I’m not totally sure.)

Grab the pattern from ThreeOOne Patterns.

[Photo: ThreeOOne Patterns]

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Cheerful Sun Cross Stitch Patterns

As I write this, we’re on day three of an expected four days full of rain, so it’s no wonder I wanted to share some sunny cross stitch patterns.

This pretty sun from Anchor via Yarnspirations uses five different shades of cheery yellow. It measures 48 by 48 stitches, or 3.5 inches/8.5 cm square on 14 count fabric.

This smiling yellow sun is a great beginner cross stitch project. The design is from Bella Rose Craft and uses three colors. When worked on 14 count fabric it fits perfectly in a 4-inch hoop.

Add another color and you’ve got this sweet sun cross stitch pattern from Mamas Crafty Basket. It’s also a little larger, at 44 by 44 stitches, but it’s still a great choice for a new stitcher. That comes out to just over 3 inches/7.87 cm on 14 count fabric.

I love this cheerful sun from Sacred Thread Design because it looks like a fancied up version of something a child would draw. This one would be great for a nursery or child’s room, or anywhere that needs a ray of sunshine. It measures 99 by 95 stitches and uses 16 colors. On 14 count fabric it will come out to 7.1 by 6.8 inches, or 18 by 17.2 cm if that’s the way you measure.

If you like your sun with a side of moon, and maybe a planet, this set from Ma Galina Lativa may be what you’re looking for. It’s shown as two different hoops but you could stitch them on the same piece of fabric and frame them together if you’d rather. The sun by itself measures 67 by 66 stitches, while the moon is 52 by 40. 

And to finish up by taking it in a completely different direction, there’s this colorful folk art sun by Tiny House Studio BC. It got let into the party because the sun is smiling, but this is definitely not as easy a pattern as the others I’ve shared. This one uses a whopping 42 colors and is 140 by 175 stitches. That’s 10 by 12.5 inches, or 25.4 by 31.75 cm on 14 count fabric.