For people who craft, it is almost like a yearning to use their hands and create something. The need to be able to say ‘I did that’ must be satisfied regularly otherwise it is easy to feel a part of you is missing. This calling is always there for people who grew up jumping from one creative craft to another. First knitting and crochet, then clothes making and soft furnishings, followed by beading, cross stitch patterns and soft toys.
Generally creative people always have a project running at all times. Their need to create and self express being satisfied even if some projects get tucked away for months, and may never be finally finished. But it is much better, with our busy modern lives, to pick projects carefully. Our time is precious and should not be wasted. Nowadays clothes and goods are so cheap to buy, it’s no surprise there is a general decline of the traditional home crafts of knitting, crochet, soft toys, soft furnishings and clothes making. This leaves beading, you either love it or hate it, and cross stitch sewing.
Self expression through crafts
Cross stitch patterns can be versatile and many can be adapted for individual needs. Generally the majority of the design work is done for you but there is still scope to change some colours, on occasions to add personal messages, and often to use designs in imaginative situations.
Waste canvas and the new soluble canvas from DMC opens up possibilities for where designs can be sewn. For example a plain T-shirt can be decorated with a princess or frog depending on whether for a girl or boy. But don’t forget that first day at school, when you watch them walk away proudly dragging a school bag personalised with their favourite Disney character, and yes you can say ‘I did that’!
Most popular free cross stitch patterns
Most popular charts are cross stitch bookmarks, wedding and birth samplers, and children’s designs. Some of these are personalised with cross stitch letters and alphabets to create a gift with the individual touch. While others are practical, useful projects that stand out and show how much you care.
Generally people want to immortalise important events, which could then become family heir looms for future generations. Otherwise they want to sew baby blankets and adorn children’s clothing, or produce gifts for friends and family.
It appears, for most people who sew them, cross stitch patterns have become a labour of love.
Why is cross stitch so special?
Counted cross stitch patterns allow artistic designs to be sewn by people who are not artists. The chart it presented as a grid with each small square to be sewn as a diagonal stitch one way then the other. By sewing these different blocks of colour the creation builds up into work of art, and the eye naturally blends these pixels into a picture. It’s a bit like paint by numbers for sewing, but is much more than this simply because most fabrics are a possible canvas.
Extra definition can be achieved by sewing quarter and three-quarter stitches. These actually slice the block in half diagonally, allowing the two sections to be sewn in different colours. However these stitches are fiddly to sew and most people find them annoying.
Backstitch, sometimes called longstitch, and French knots are two different types of stitches that can be used along side cross stitches. They also give definition, backstitch is used to outline the cross stitches and French knots are a bit like sewing a heavy round dot.
What different cross stitch methods are there?
For most books in print their charts use fractional stitches. This is because the designs look great for people flicking through the book in a shop, or with the ‘look inside’ facility on Amazon.
Purists use only full cross stitches, but unfortunately these designs don’t look good unless they are huge, and then there is a chance that the project will just not be completed.
The DMC approach appears to be a realistic compromise. DMC is an experienced company that produce many ranges of cottons and flosses as well as cross stitch kits and charts. They use fractional stitches only for people’s faces and their use of backstitch is very selective, to just give enough sharpness. The results are high quality looking, small to medium sized designs that are likely to be finished.
Conclusion
Cross stitch sewing is good value for money especially if using free cross stitch patterns available on the internet. Whether it is the thrill of getting something for nothing, or just the need to explore, experiment or self express, this craft is well worth your time.
If you pick designs that use the DMC style then you’re endeavours will look good and you will give yourself an excellent chance of completing your projects. Your need to create will be satisfied and you can look back and proudly say ‘I did that’!
