Cross Stitching: A Tutorial of Sorts

I've had many people ask me how I do my cross stitches, so I thought that would be a good opportunity for a blog post. Maybe you will learn something, or maybe you can teach me your own techniques!


The first step for me is to find an image that I want to stitch. Here's mine:

Next, I use GIMP to edit the image. For the most part I use the technique from this YouTube video.
If there is anything in the background which you don't want to keep, you can use the lasso tool to select it all, then hit the delete button on your keyboard. I'm going to include everything in this particular stitch. I like working with black and white cross stitches, so I start out by desaturating the image. If your picture is black and white you can skip this step. Select Colors, Desaturate, and in that menu you can choose either Lightness, Luminosity, or Average. Simply pick whatever looks best to you. In this case I've selected Lightness.

 

Next I apply a Gaussian Blur.  This is because there will be too many little details that you don't need, and they don't necessarily translate well to your cross stitch pattern, especially if it is a smaller size. Select Filters, Blur, and then Gaussian Blur. You don't want it to be so blurry that you can't tell what the image is, and for the most part I don't even touch the menu; the standard settings are usually just fine. 

For the next step you are going to limit the number of colors in the picture. To do this you are going to select Image, Mode, then Indexed. "Generate optimum palette" should be highlighted. Next to "Maximum number of colors" you are going to fill in the amount of different colors you want to work with. The more colors you choose, the more detailed the pattern will be. I am pretty new to cross stitching, and don't have many colors to work with, so I usually pick between 3 and 5 colors. I'm going to go for 5 in this case.

And here's what you are left with:

He's looking pretty ragged.

At this point, there is no longer any need for GIMP, so save your image. We are now going to take it over to to a site called MyPhotoStitch.com. There is a simple and an advanced form. Filling out the form is all about what you want. I usually set the size by the size of the Aida cloth I am using. In this example I want it to be about 9" x 5". The pattern you get isn't usually exactly the size you specify, but it's close enough! I also select how many threads I want, which is just the number of colors I am going to use--5. Under Allowed Threads I select Grayscale, and I want both symbols and colored boxes.

And now, the moment you've been waiting for... your new cross stitch pattern!

It may not look like much, but I promise it's much better once it's made into a pretty little cross stitch. If you don't believe me, take a look at the finished product.

 

You can also find this stitch for sale on my etsy and ebay stores!