Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Tools to Make Your Cross Stitch Life Easier

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I don’t do a lot of big cross stitch projects so I don’t have a lot of cross stitch supplies or special tools that I use, but I know there are things out there that can make the work of cross stitch a little easier, faster and more fun.

Hannah Handmakes did a podcast about essential cross stitch tools, and it’s also a blog post if you don’t want to listen along.

One that she doesn’t mention, possibly because it’s too basic, is a needle threader. I do use a needle threader sometimes (when I can find one!) as it makes threading the needle a lot easier when you have those threads that just won’t cooperate. I also have a project I need to use a seam ripper on, because it’s not worth it to try to unstitch this project where I used more threads than I should have (that one is on the list).

One thing that is on the list that I have been curious about is needle minders. These are decorative metal pieces that come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with a magnet. You put the magnet on the back of your work and the needle minder on the front, and then when you put your needle down it stays on the plate. No more losing your needle or poking holes through your fabric to keep track of it.

If you use a needle minder I’d love to hear your experience!

Check out the blog post and/or the podcast to see what the other tools to help your cross stitch are over at Hannah Handmakes. And if you have something that you would add to the list I’d love to hear about that, too! I’m sure there are lots of things that could be helpful that I’m not aware of and that other people would like to know about, too.

[Image by Alina Kuptsova from Pixabay]

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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!