Cross Stitch Patterns – Advantages and Disadvantages of Various Sized Patterns

Thank you for reading our information.  We'll be discussing the advantages and disadvantages of the different sizes of cross stitch patterns - small vs. large.Even if you haven't been cross stitching long, you have probably already discovered that design sizes can vary tremendously.A small design such as a bookmark can sometimes be completed in a matter of hours. Conversly, there are cross stitch patterns out there that are so large they may take several months or even years to finish. What you have to remember though when picking out a pattern, the most important concept to keep in mind is that you enjoy stitching it.

One aspect of difficulty is based on the size of the pattern.   The advantages of stitching a small design are numerous.  Because they can be stitched up quickly, stitchers can move on to the next project sooner.  Stitching up something small like a bookmark quickly give some stitchers quite a sense of reward when they finished quickly. Smaller projects are also easier to handle, giving them another advantage.  With smaller projects, you won't find yourself with lots of extra fabric outside of the hoop, which some people find dfficult to handle.  Of course, there are disadvantages also.  One of the major one would be the cost involved. How can this be? If you are stitching small projects and finish a project every few days, when you start on a new one, there's additional cost for more fabric, floss and another pattern. This can be lessened by finding free cross stitch patterns on the internet.  One great resource for finding free patterns - Free Cross Stitch Patterns.  Another great source for free and very low-cost cross stitch patterns on the internet is a site called Xstitchpatterns.com (click for xstitch patterns), which always has at least one free pattern available.  You can also use the coupon code *promoLV* (without the astericks) to get another free one of your choice.

Now, we'll talk about the advantages and disadvantages of large patterns.  The advantage of a large pattern is that once you have your initial outlay of cost, (which can be substantial at times depending how much floss and fabric is required) this project can last you several weeks or months, thus not requiring any further cost for quite some time. The large number of floss colors can be daunting for some stitchers, but some actually prefer this.    Because of the largeness of the design, each floss will be used substantially more (usually), which can result in being able to use the same floss color for quite a while..  Of course, large projects mean large pieces of fabric and lots of floss.  This extra fabric can be quite difficult to manage for some stitchers, as it can get in the way of your hands when stitching.    Since large patterns can take a while to finish, stitchers sometimes may get tired of working the same design for an extended period of time.  This may result in putting the project down for a while and not coming back to it.  Despite these minor disadvantages, the end result with a large project can be quite stunning.

After reading this information, you can see the pluses and minuses of the different cross stitch patterns in addition to things such as types of stitches, specialty stitches, etc. you should have a fairly good idea about what to expect for both large and small cross stitch patterns, and hopefully this will make your selection easier.  The most important thing to remember is that it is *your* project, and you should be happy with the end result, as well as enjoy the process.