Stitch Up a World of Rainbows

This time of year rainbows are often associated with Pride, but they can have lots of different meanings or just be a color combination that you like.

In honor of loving rainbows all year long, check out this cute set of rainbow cross stitch patterns from Faby Reilly.

The Rainbow World patterns were originally made during covid as a fun way to spread love while staying at home, but of course we still need that community, connection and bright light even though the time for staying at home has long passed.

The set is a collection of hoops with a heart design that shows part of the globe in a darker color, surrounded by a heart of leaves and a border with more hearts and squares.

The idea was to work one in each color of the rainbow and display them together, but of course you can just stitch up one in your favorite color if you don’t want the whole set. I think these would be really cute stitched up on display in a baby’s room with other rainbow accessories, especially if the baby is a rainbow baby.

Each pattern is 40 by 40 stitches, which comes out to 3 inches or 7.5 cm when stitched on 14 count fabric. They’re shown in 3-inch hoops but you could also use 4-inch hoops and have a little white space around the edge or even add in some text if you want.

If you’re working all of the colors you’ll need 21 colors, but each chart uses three colors. In addition to regular cross stitches they use a lazy daisy stitch and a Rhodes heart (the pattern has a little photo tutorial for each). Each hoop also uses 4 seed beads, so you’ll need 28 total if you’re making all of them.

The pattern is available in English and French as a free download from Faby Reilly.

[Photo: Faby Reilly]

Next Pattern:

Cross Stitch Patterns to Celebrate Pride

If you like repeating cross stitch designs, borders you can use on other projects or as bookmarks, florals and Japanese-inspired designs, you’ll want to check out 200 Japanese Cross Stitch Designs by Saeko Endo. This collection of 200 cross stitch charts is low on instruction but big on inspiration for those who are comfortable taking a chart and running with it.

The book includes a brief introduction to the needed supplies and basics of stitching, but mostly is just photographs of finished designs and the charts that go with them. The charts vary widely in size and there can be anywhere from one to six charts printed on a single page.

Many of the designs are repeating patterns, but the chart shows a larger version so you can see how the repeats go together. Each chart has marked what portion is repeating and how many stitches and rows it includes. Other than that the charts are not numbered, but there are darker lines every five rows to help you count.

The patterns all range from one to three colors, and some include half cross stitches or back stitching, but most are full stitches.

The book is arranged into categories of motifs: geometric patterns, retro patterns, traditional Japanese patterns, floral and fauna and borders and pictorial motifs.

My favorites are the Japanese designs, many of which are recognizable from woodcuts, kimono designs and traditional shashiko embroidery. You’ll find cherry blossoms, suns, knots, and simple line designs that would be lots of fun to stitch.

There are a few pages devoted to different ways to modify charts such as changing colors, changing the way to design is repeated, flipping and rotating designs.

Other than that you’re on your own for how you actually want to use these designs. Of course they can just be stitched and framed but it might have been nice to see some of the projects stitched and staged in a way you might use them in everyday life (repeating motifs as coasters, or a bigger design turned into a pillow, for example).

Sometimes it helps to see designs used in different ways to get you thinking about how you might use them yourself. If you don’t need that creative push, this is a fine book full of patterns you’ll have fun playing with in different ways.

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 200 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Next Pattern:

Have you read?