Ways to Display Your Cross Stitch Projects

I think most of the time when we make cross stitch projects, we are pretty conventional in how we choose to display them. We might mount them on a board of some sort, or show them in a frame.

Sometimes we might make special kinds of projects that are displayed or used in different ways, such as making cross stitch bookmarks, holiday ornaments or badges.

Or we might stitch onto fabric that isn’t meant to be for cross stitch at all, such as adding a monogram to a set of napkins or stitching a design or some words on an apron or something cute on a tea towel.

But there are more things you can do with cross stitch beyond this handful of options.

Craft with Cartwright has a list of 26 different ways you can display finished cross stitch projects, which are sure to get your imagination going.

I love this list as a way to think about making cross stitch gifts for people for the holidays or other occasions. It’s a reminder that we don’t have to make a big thing and frame it (though the one Christmas gift I’m working on is going to be framed).

We can make magnets or iron on patches for clothes (that’s one I hadn’t thought of before!). There are lots of different ways to make ornaments, from tiny frames to making a little stuffed pillow or pincushion style ornament.

You can make wall hangings, or gift tags, or even make your own frames if you want to frame your pieces for display.

There are so many great ideas in this list and I don’t want to give them all away, so head to Craft with Cartwright to check them all out. There are tutorials to all of the different projects and presentation ideas, so you’re sure to find something to spark a new project idea for you.

[Photo: Craft with Cartwright]

Hanukkah is a great reason to pull out your cross stitch fabric and thread and stitch up some fun seasonal cross stitch patterns.

If you have trouble spelling Hanukkah (I know I do!) you’ll want to stitch up the How Do You Spell… project from SKB Cross Stitch Design. This one includes a bunch of different ways to spell the holiday, along with some symbols like a dreidel and menorah. (Technically I think all the ways to spell it are “correct.”) The pattern includes full, fractional and bask titches, and measures 8.5 by 7 inches, or 21.6 by 17.8 cm. It has the date for 2004/5785 but you can easily change the year or leave that part off.

Another project with some fun word play is the Words to Live By chart from Sam Brie Stitches. This one includes Hanukkah related symbols and word presented crossword puzzle style, which is fun to stitch and to display. The design uses 10 colors and measures 74 by 103 stitches. It’s shown worked on 18 count fabric.

I may have shared these before, but the Hanukkah patterns from the Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery are so cute they’re definitely worth sharing again. Happy Hanukkah features a menorah, dreidels, gelt, stars and candles, and it fits in a 6-inch hoop. At 75 by 75 stitches, it comes out to 5.4 inches/13.4 cm on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen. They also have this cute little dreidel stamp cross stitch pattern, which is 39 by 49 stitches, or 2.8 by 3.5 inches (about 7 by 9 cm) on 14 count Aida or 28 count linen.

Works By ABC has a lot of great patterns for Hanukkah, but here are just a couple to get you started. The Rules for Dreidel design is fun for kids and adults and shows the different sides of the dreidel and what it means when you land on them. The stitch count is 62 by 94 and its shown worked on 32 count linen. It calls for three colors. I also like this menorah one, which measures 44 by 49 stitches and uses two colors along with coordinating seed beads. On 32 count linen as shown (equivalent to 16 count Aida) it measures 2.75 by 3.1 inches, or almost 7 by 7.8 cm.

Have you read?