A classic craft featuring fresh designs—here, cute critters (great for kids), but also personal passions (cooking, gardening, and more)—feels fresh and modern. Frame your menagerie in 4- and 5-inch wooden embroidery hoops, painted for added polish (using enamel spray paint).
Supplies
Use Aida cloth to make X-shaped stitches in neat rows. See templates (pages 382–383) to make these animals. Or turn any design into a cross-stitch pattern by printing a grid onto acetate and placing it over the design.
Cross-stitch: Center fabric in an embroidery hoop. Count the stitches in each row of the template. Using the fabric’s weave as a grid, make that number of stitches; first, create a row of evenly spaced diagonal lines, then stitch back over the row, creating Xs. To make a half cross-stitch (for a diagonal line in your design), make the first stitch from the corner to the grid’s middle, and then the second stitch as normal. When the design is complete, trim excess cloth.
Backstitch: Use this stitch to create thin lines (see page 189).
If you’re stitching single-color designs like these, you’ll find it easier to make the outline first and then fill it in.