Much like the renaissance in recent years of knitting, cross stich has had a similar revival in the craft sphere. The reinvention of classic patterns with a more modern twist has brought cross stitch into the mainstream and thank goodness I say!
My interest in cross stitch came from my mum. She’s made beautiful pieces over the years and when I was young encouraged me into it. Although it wasn’t until the last few years that I’ve really got into it. Etsy has a wonderful collection of downloadable modern cross stitch patterns but if you’ve got an image that you’d like to stitch it can be a pain turning them into a pattern. Well, despair no longer! The internet is loaded with tips on how you can use photo editing software to create patterns from pictures but I’d highly recommend pic2pat. After uploading your image and selecting the size of the finished product, all without handing over any personal data, the website generates a series of patterns for you. The patterns offered range in the level of detail the colours in the image are broken into – the more detailed the clearer your image will be (also the more colours required to create the over all effect) to more simplified versions. The patterns also give you the thread matches required to create your individual masterpiece. It’s so easy! The higher the resolution of your image the better generated pattern will be.
I adore my sister, she’s the greatest. In recent years she’s adopted the motivational mantra ‘no grit no pearl’. Pearls are made by a little grain of sand getting into an oyster and with a bit of hard work that grain of sand (grit) becomes a beautiful work. Using the graphic version of this mantra that she favours, I used pic2pat to make this cross stitch. In hindsight, the only variation I would have made from the generated pattern would be to have used lighter shades of grey for the waves, but that’s the beauty of hindsight!
The finished product lives on her bedroom wall reminding her daily not only how much I love her but also how a little hardship, with a bit of strength and tenacity, can become a beautiful pearl. I highly recommend this website for creating individual and heartfelt pieces. Needless to say, my sister loved hers.
[Just a little side note, if you’re going to frame a cross stich you need to lace it before hand to keep to taut. I’ll write about how to do this and share my lovely mum’s instructions soon.]
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