Customize Your Cross Stitch

Make your very own personalized cross-stitch pieces by combining these “ready-to-go” patterns with the included tips and tricks for customization.

Customize Your Cross-Stitch: Friends and Family by Lizzy Dabczynski-Bean and the team at Stitch People is the perfect how-to guide, whether you are an experienced cross-stitcher who wants to create personalized pieces or a beginner who has never before held a needle and thread.

This helpful guide introduces you to the basics of the craft with easy-to-follow written directions and photographic instructions. You can learn everything from using the tools of the trade to reading a pattern, creating basic stitches, and tweaking an already-existing design. The beautiful, modern designs in this book are accompanied by simple instructions appropriate for all skill levels.

The easy-to-follow lessons—complete with patterns, detailed instructions, and photographs—ensure success in customizing patterns to create your very own unique pieces. Discover how to swap out colors, alter hairstyles, change clothing, and much more, to make your scene depict you and your own friends and family!

Learn to stitch and customize patterns of these adorable scenes:
 

• A couple sitting on a porch
• A family portrait with a pet
• Friends on a road trip
• A meeting for coffee at the cafe
• A baby birth announcement
• A family sledding scene
• A family in the garden
• A pool party
• A family picnic at the park

An inspiration gallery at the end includes full-color images of additional finished pieces to inspire you to continue your learning with even more patterns from Stitch People, which has offered patterns and instruction for do-it-yourself cross-stitched family portraits since 2014.

Create custom cross-stitch art that will be treasured for generations with this easy-to-follow guide.

Lizzy Dabczynski-Bean (Dabczynski pronounced dab-chin-ski) started her service business Stitch People in 2013. The first Stitch People portraits were Christmas gifts for her family in 2011; now countless customized portraits have been stitched for families all over the world based off of her designs. Stitch People is now a wife-and-husband team headed by Lizzy and has expanded its pattern collections with digital patterns available for purchase and download online at StitchPeople.com.

Julian Odessa is the design lead and resident Australian at Stitch People. His tale is a common one: boy starts out as a musician, becomes a cancer researcher, and then returns to the arts to work from home in his comfy pants, helping people reconnect with their creativity while keeping the coffee bean supply chain well-funded. Find Julian's article segment for CrossStitcher Magazine UK, where he looks at the relationship between art and mindfulness. Follow Julian on Instagram @jojodessa