Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Ways to Display Your Cross Stitch Projects

by

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]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

D&D Cross Stitch Patterns

My husband is a D&D player from way back and still does role playing with his friends most weekends. There are lots of great D&D cross stitch patterns, but somehow the ones that caught my eye this time have a theme of being about the D&D classes or involving dice (or both). 

I love this collection of the D&D classes done as tarot cards. These would be so fun to stitch up for all the people in your party, or make the full set as one big wall hanging for the game room. There are 16 patterns total (just a few are shown here) and each one just uses three colors. The designs are from GlitchStitchAU.

This set kind of reminds me of astrological signs, though I can’t really say why. This set of 16 designs from White Raven Patterns is color coordinated so it sort of makes a rainbow if you stitch all of them. The dungeon master one is more colorful. Each one uses five or six colors and fits in a 10-inch hoop. 

Combining character classes and dice we get this set of 14 designs from Stitch it Picasso. Each one includes the class name and a die with a number on it, as well as some images that make sense for that class (the bard has a lute and music notes, for example). Each design is around 90 by 90 stitches and they use 13 to 19 colors each, depending on the design. 

Or you can make patches that look like dice with this D20 dice bundle from Non Player Creation. The patches are inspired by the four seasons, but you could change up the colors to suit your campaign setting if you like. They are 31 by 35 stitches and use between nine and 12 colors depending on the season. 

And speaking of D20s, this little dragon might be protecting your dice or cursing them, it’s hard to tell. It’s kind of cute, though! The design is from Cross Stitch Wow and measures 80 by 95 stitches. It fits in an 8-inch hoop and uses 16 colors.