I’ve talked about wanting to learn cross stitching (or just pick up a new hobby in general) in a few recent posts, and I am happy to say I finally did it! My friend Alyson has been a cross stitcher for a long time, and I reached out to her to spend a day where we could just worry about nothing other than cross stitching. She quickly agreed, and we met last Friday for her to teach me and for us to stitch a little bit together. I am here to report back- it was so fun!!
I am so glad I finally know how to cross stitch and have a hobby that’s so easy to do in spare time + something easily giftable. I thought about doing watercolor, but I knew i wouldn’t be confident in anything I painted enough to give it to someone, but that’s what I love about cross stitch- If you follow all the directions it’s going to look like your pattern, making it worthy of being gifted. I will probably gift 90% of the things I make because I don’t have enough spaces in my house to display all the patterns I want to complete!
Alyson so generously gifted me all the supplies necessary to get started. This took off a lot of the pressure because I didn’t have to spend money on something, then later find out I was horrible at it or hated doing it. Today I want to share my very, very early tips on beginning cross stitching and my favorite place to find free patterns.
Getting Started
I luckily had Alyson to help me learn the basics, but I really think anyone could pick this up after a couple of Youtube Videos. I just watched this one, and I think it would be really good for a beginner! I am not going to attempt to write out a guide here, as I am extremely new to the hobby myself and don’t want to confuse anyone.
If you don’t have a friend to lend you the supplies like I did, I highly recommend ordering a kit. I would just be sure to pick out a fairly simple pattern for your first one- something like this $15 pumpkin pattern. Ordering a kit will ensure you don’t end up with a pile of supplies you bought on bulk from Amazon if you don’t end up sticking with the hobby. The only other piece you need to complete the puzzle is a few needles. *Be careful to discern between cross stitch and embroidery. If interested in cross stitching, you want to look for something blocky, made up of little tiny boxes. Embroidery is going to look like a lot of lines made up of thread. I am really itching to start embroidery soon- fingers crossed I can do it!
I shared a little bit about my first project on Instagram. I fell in love with this bicycle pattern, and Alyson brought me threads she had on hand that were close to the suggested colors. We both agreed this pattern was a little bit challenging for a beginner, but it was nice because I learned a few of the stitch variations while she was here to help me. I learned the basic cross stitch and then a back stitch for the spokes on the bike. I can’t wait to learn a few more stitches!
Finding Free Patterns
I’m all about the free cross stitch patterns, and I am not sure how soon I will be spending money on patterns with how many free ones I have come across. My favorite site so far is definitely this Country Living article– how cute are these? I could make each one on this list. I am especially eyeing the lantern, chinoiserie jar, the snowflake and the mail box. One thing to note, if you find a pattern and it has an ombre effect or there’s shading of some sort, it might be best to buy the actual threads the pattern suggests. This will ensure the tones of the two completely coordinate!
You can also search “free cross stitch patterns” on pinterest and google images- so much comes up! You can also specify your search for “Free Harry Potter cross stitch patterns,” or anything else you’re interested in stitching.
All this talk about stitching has me wanting to get back to my bookmark project! I hope this post was helpful!
