DESIGN with simple little stitches!

Free Patterns

As mentioned on the Get Started page, sometimes trying out someone elses design can be a good first timer exercise. To find some samples of free patterns made by me, Please click here! The patterns are completely free and hand drawn by me in graph paper. If there is any issue with image quality please do not hesitate to contact me for a better photo or just some clarification.

Making Your Own

Using Graph Paper

One thing to take note of when using graph paper is that the generic graph paper bought in shops may not match the count of your cross stitch material. This may make your graph paper designs look bigger or smaller than what will be the final product. While this might be an issue for some when mapping out their designs,I have never had a problem fitting my designs onto the material from graph paper. To get around this, there is a website that allows for a free download of graph paper to match the count of your material.

Combining Elements

Anice cross stitch pattern is rarely a single small image al alone. The best are elabroate and colourful with many different aspects and elements that make up the full pattern. I would suggest drawing out your individual elements to see what kind of space they take up overall on a graph paper page and seeing then how you will combine it with other suck elements that can come together and complement each other in the bigger picture.

Positioning

The best place to start working on your cross stitch is in the center of your material.To find the center, you can fold it once legth ways and again width ways and poke your needle through the corner which would be the center. The needle will then hold the center position on your cross stitch material. This will help immensely with positioning your design.

Considering Colour

Colour is something you cannot forget about. It can make or break a great design if the colour is not considered properly. What I would suggest is to go on colourLOVERS.com and see what palettes you would like to use. The have thousands of examples and many are free licence. You can sample some colours and match them to known thread manufacturers colour registration numbers. If there is a particular colour you like and you have the hexidecimal code for it, then pop that in the search bar on colourLOVERS and it will find some lovely complimentary or contrasting colours that will really make your designs pop! Adobe Color have a way of creating your own palettes and saving swatches for later use. These are all websites you should have a look at before you commit to colours in your cross stitch design.