Free Cross Stitch Pattern Guide
How to glam up your free cross stitch pattern and find unusual inspiration for making your own. |
But, this could look a little plain, so along came fancy scissors for making decorative edges and corners, perhaps even add some peel off stickers to liven things up a bit; a simple gold 'happy birthday' sticker could really pick up the card. But then again, so could gold or sliver peel off borders, or corners ... and maybe a little decorative embellishment placed tastefully beneath the stitched picture ... or what about even a dry embossed border or pattern on the aperture card ...
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You can find hundreds of free cross stitch patterns online, but why not try look for unusual inspiration to get some ideas suitable for card making...
- The free images you can get on this site - if you like your apertures, many of the vintage images have pretty borders that you can cut the center out of and mount your stitched piece behind. Mount both onto a plain card.
- Craft stencils you already have - draw around the shapes onto your fabric, then stitch up however you wish.
- Free digital stamps and printable papers
- Look at antique samplers online and see if there are any designs to inspire you
- Or, how about trying to design your own patterns and motifs? Either use graph paper or one of the many cross stitch software packages out there. If you have some image editing software that you can place a grid onto, you can colour in the 'pixels' as if they were stitches as well.
Many cross stitchers would come into my shop and say that they started papercraft card making because it was quicker and what was the point of stitching a card if it would just be thrown away. Well, if a person is going to throw away something you have worked so hard on, perhaps they didn't deserve your effort in the first place, but however.... To make cross stitch greeting cards more 'modern' or to give them a twist why not try the following:
- Make 'stitched toppers' - small designs that are mounted on TOP of your card, not behind an aperture
- Make a cross stitch greeting panel instead of a picture: a name or just 'happy birthday' with a mini floral or two perhaps
- Stitch a border to go around the card
- If you have the software, you could import some of the 'digital scrapbooking' freebies you can find, and stitch those - stitching background papers and embellishments for your cards, or stitch the paper designs and mount traditional card making embellishments on top of your cross stitched 'paper'
- Make the cards a 'keepsake' so they won't be thrown away
If you want neat edges, you can try using normal fabrics, cutting them as close as you can and sealing the edges with clear glue (or maybe a colour co-ordinated glitter glue?!), or use plastic canvas or stitching paper if you can get your hands on it.
Remember too that using different threads can make a very simple, otherwise boring shape, quite attractive - a simple 'heart' stitched in variegated or metallic thread will have more of an impact than plain thread.
With a little imagination, free cross stitch patterns can be found almost anywhere - and of course not forgetting the many places online where you can find free 'printable' cross stitch patterns...
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