Tropical Bird Cross Stitch Patterns

The weather is hot where I live as I write this, which has me thinking of the beach and more tropical climates, because if you’re going to be hot at least you should be somewhere pretty, right?

If a tropical vacation isn’t in the cards for you, maybe you can stitch up some colorful birds instead? These would be great for a beach-themed room or as part of your summer decor no matter where you live.

This collection started with the Lovebirds pattern from DMC, available from LoveCrafts. These pretty parrots are worked in hues of red, yellow and orange, but you could make them with cooler colors as well. They’re sitting on a tree branch and surrounded by flowers.

The watercolor look of this rainbow colored parrot from Laser Arts Designs on Etsy makes it look so fun to stitch. The pattern listing doesn’t say how many colors it uses but does note their patterns use 20-25 colors max. The design is 151 by 205 stitches, which comes out to 10.8 by 14.6 inches or 27.4 by 37.2 cm on 14 count fabric.

This toucan pattern from Sam Xstitch is nice and cooling to look at because of all the greens. It is 97 by 97 stitches and uses 22 colors. On 14 count fabric that comes out to just under 7 inches, or 17.6 cm on each side.

A cockatiel is another classic tropical bird, but if you don’t want one for a pet you can stitch one up with this pattern from Stitch Junction. I love how realistic it looks, particularly the branch the bird is sitting on. This pattern uses a whopping 60 colors to get that super-realistic look, so maybe if you start it now it will be ready to hang next summer. The design is 200 by 200 stitches and comes out to 14.29 inches or 36.29 cm on each side if you use 14 count fabric. The pattern includes sizing all the way down to 32 count if you want to go that small.

Winter Birds Cross Stitch Pattern

Two Birds on a Branch

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30 + Bird Cross Stitch Patterns

I am known to be really paranoid when it comes to cutting cross stitch fabric for a project. I will math it out, count, recount, think about it, worry, decide it needs to be bigger than math plus my already large margin for error suggests. If I could just be confident in choosing the correct size of fabric I’d have a lot more stitching time!

Sometimes you have a lot of extra fabric beyond where you are stitching because your fabric is too big. Or maybe you’re just working on a big project that leaves excess fabric potentially in your way when you are stitching.

Hannah Hand Makes has a post all about how to deal with excess fabric on the sides of a large cross stitch project (which is actually a podcast if you’d rather listen). She is talking more about huge stitchalong projects where you need a big piece of fabric than my particular problem of timid cutting, but the same advice applies.

I am lazy and don’t want to buy new products, so I would probably devise some sort of rolling and clamping situation with items I already have in the house, but she has some great tips for actual products you can buy that will help with this situation such as large hoops, standing frames and scroll frames. One of these solutions would certainly be worth the investment if you’re doing a year long (or otherwise long term) stitchalong or really big project where that excess fabric is going to cause problems.

Because beyond being annoying, odds are good I’m going to end up stitching right through that extra fabric and making a big mess.

Check out all the tips for working with a really big piece of cross stitch fabric over at Hannah Hand Makes.

What’s the biggest cross stitch project you’ve ever made? I’d love to hear all about it!

[Photo: Hannah Hand Makes]

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