Design Your Own Cross Stitch!

This one I did a while ago, but it's so easy to do I thought you guys would benefit from a simple tutorial! Cross stitch is a type of needlework, where you make continuous thread x's to make a design. As one of my nerdier friends put it, "So it's like the original pixel art!" This was my end result. The A is for Anne and the owl is because owls are cool.

 Here's a close up of the owl so you can see the stitches and back stitch around the eyes.

This is a really blanched picture, but its really clear for how many stitches I used where.

I did one for each of my roommates too - an L, and S, and another A, and they had a fish, a seal, and a yellow duck! So cute, but I forgot to get pictures! :(

Cross stitch is very easy to learn. All you need is some embroidery floss in a color you like (a think of embroidery floss is $.99 at JoAnn's and lasts a LONG time because you typically separate the 6 strands into 2 for the stitching), an embroidery needle (they are larger, not as sharp, and have a bigger eye for easier threading, yay!), and some cross stitch fabric, which you can find at JoAnn's and isn't very expensive either.

If you don't know anything about cross stitching, this site seems to be a very succinct version. Although, I have never stitched around the fabric (just cut a bigger piece than you need so you can cut off the frayed ends once you're done), and I don't use an embroidery  hoop - I just stitch with the fabric loose in my lap because the fabric doesn't need to be super taught to look good when you're done.

Making your own graph is SUPER easy. All you have to do is print this out:

And draw on it.

I swear, that's it! You have to make some judgements about what squares to stitch in when it's a curved line, but that's not a big deal, and the quality of the end result doesn't really hang on one or two misplaced stitches. I promise.

I used the custom preview on DaFont on the largest size as a reference for the letters, and googled "small owl cross stitch" for the owl or other animals I used. SUPER EASY.

The grid above is 50x60 stitches, so with 14 Aida it will turn out 3.5"x4.3" and in 18 Aida it is 2.7"x3.3". Feel free to draw outside the lines and extend the grid, or if you would like me to help you with a custom size grid, I'd be happy to help, just leave a comment or shoot me an email. Even if you go a lot outside the lines, you'll still be able to fit the finished product in a regular sized picture frame.

This was an easy craft. Drawing the grid took me around 10 minutes, and the actual stitching took me only a couple hours (keep in mind that's not a lot of time for stitching something). This was a cheap craft too, so that's definitely a bonus.

Happy crafting!
-Anne