Year of the Dragon Cross Stitch Patterns

The coming new year is the year of the dragon in Chinese astrology, so let’s celebrate with some year of the dragon cross stitch patterns.

The green dragon cross stitch pattern from Creative House Pattern (via Etsy) also features the year prominently, with a landscape worked into the numbers and the dragon perched on top. It’s not super traditional, but still fun. This one is 112 by 84 stitches and uses eight colors.

I always love the Chinese New Year patterns from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery, and the year of the dragon one is no exception. Include the year at the top or leave it off for a decoration you can pull out every 12 years! The pattern actually comes with all the numbers so if you want to personalize it with the birth year of a dragon in your life that would also be fun.

For a more traditional Chinese dragon look to your year of the dragon cross stitch, try this pattern from The Art of Cross Stitch on Etsy. The pattern is worked in three colors and measures 6 by 8 inches on 14 count fabric (80 by 103 stitches).

Or make this gorgeous red and gold dragon from Care Cross Stitch. It comes out to 8 inches/20.3 cm on 16 count fabric and uses three colors. I think this would look especially cool if you used metallic thread for the gold circle around the outside of the project.

You can also stitch the zodiac symbol for a dragon rather than the dragon itself, as in this pattern from Holly’s Hobbies UK. This one uses a single color and is about 50 by 50 stitches, or 3.6 inches/9 cm square on 14 count fabric.

And if you want a project that will last you the entirety of the year of the dragon, check out this amazing dragon from Unconventional X-Stitch. At 317 by 516 stitches and a whopping 87 colors, this project would be a true labor of love but such an amazing work of art to have in your home through the year of the dragon and beyond.

Next Pattern:

Year of the Rabbit Cross Stitch Pattern

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]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?