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The White, Black and Red History of Cross Stitch

June 27, 2024 by Sarah White

I will admit that I don’t know all that much about the history of cross stitch. I know it’s an offshoot of embroidery, which has been around for thousands of years, and that cross stitches were used in conjunction with all sorts of other embroidery stitches long before it became a technique used independently to cover fabric with a design.

The history of cross stitch intersects with other embroidery movements that can include cross stitch, too, like whitework, blackwork and redwork. Lord Libidan gives us the rundown of the history in a post on his site, adapted from an article written for XStitch magazine.

Whitework was worked with white thread on white linen, and sometimes involved cutting away the fabric and leaving the embroidery with no background. That kind of embroidery came to be only allowed for nobles and royalty in England, so a new style was needed for the masses.

Black stitch was a technique Catherine of Aragon brought from Spain to England, and while it wasn’t exclusively worked in cross stitches, it’s a step in the evolution to modern cross stitch that we know of today.

And as red thread became available from Turkey, redwork embroidery (and combinations of red and black in the same project) became really popular, and motifs were sold so that stitchers could create from standardized patterns.

From there, stitching began to be taught to children, and cross stitch, as we know it started to come into being.

It’s an interesting history and I’ve just scratched the surface here, so if you love history or just knowing where the crafts you enjoy came from, Lord Libidan’s post is definitely worth a read.

I also talk a little bit about blackwork and whitework in my post all about how to embroider over on Our Daily Craft if you want to learn a bit more!

[Photo: The Steady Thread]

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Fancy Pumpkin Cross Stitch Patterns

If you’re ready to move beyond basic, solid orange pumpkins, check out these pumpkin cross stitch patterns that are just a little bit fancier with some kind of pattern on the pumpkin. 

Keep it simple and rustic with this plaid pumpkin form Cross Stitch with Art. You can make the plaid whatever colors you want to match your decor, or keep with the Halloween color palette. It uses three colors and comes out to about 6 inches/15.24 cm square when you stitch it on 14 count fabric. 

Mamaida Pattern has this cute pumpkin with a vine in the negative space. Since that portion isn’t actually stitched (though you could make it green if you like) that makes this pattern pretty easy. It uses just two colors and measures 108 by 110 stitches. That’s about 7.7 by 7.9 inches or 19.6 by 20 cm on 14 count fabric. 

Speaking of negative space, this design by Tinsel Cross Stitch blows out the pumpkin a bit so the ridges are negative space and the colors here too have kind of a vineing effect. This design is 98 by 113 stitches and uses three colors. It measures 7 by a little more than 8 inches, or 17.78 by 20.5 cm on 14 count fabric.

Get even more detailed with the carving effect on this pumpkin cross stitch pattern from Anemone Patterns. This one is 85 by 83 stitches, which comes out to 6.1 by 5.9 inches (15.4 by 15.1 cm).

In a similar vein but a different color, there’s this pretty green pumpkin from Crystal Feather Crafts. Of course you could make it any color you like, but I always like to remind people that even in nature not all pumpkins are orange. This design measures 101 by 93 stitches, which is 7.2 by 6.6 inches/18.3 by 16.9 cm. 

And speaking of color, if you want to stitch a pumpkin with boho vibes, this one from Stitch Craft Creatives is probably the one for you. At 200 stitches square, it comes out to 14.4 inches or 36.3 cm square on 14 count fabric. It uses 14 colors for a very vibrant pumpkin!

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