I was recently cleaning up my computer and came across some of my old treasures. And I thought it would be a pity to let them sink in oblivion.
These are actually some of the very first embroidery designs I ever digitized for my website, which I started back in the late ’90s.
At the time, I had the PC-Design embroidery software for my Pfaff, and I really couldn’t get the hang of it. It was such a specific kind of software that many people struggled with it. It was excellent for editing designs, but not so great for creating them from scratch. At some point, I got into cross stitch, which was significantly easier thanks to an embroidery program called Kreuz.
Are there any long-time stitchers here who remember that little program? It was a great little tool made by a German programmer for his mother. The program was free back then and, compared to today’s more sophisticated options, it only had very basic functions — but honestly, it was enough. If I remember correctly, the developer eventually sold that basic version to Husqvarna, who developed it further into their 5D Cross Stitcher. But that’s such ancient history now that I might be wrong. If any of you reading this have memories that go that far back, leave me a comment!
Later on, when I bought the cross stitch module for Embird, I basically stopped creating this type of design because I was completely overwhelmed by all the amazing features and functions. But that’s not the program’s fault — on the contrary, it’s excellent. The problem is on my end, I just never made the time to explore all the features properly. But it’s not too late! If you’re curious about the software, definitely check out the Cross Stitch section — it offers a lot of possibilities and the price is quite reasonable. And if you’re not aiming for anything too complex at the start, you can create an embroidery just by clicking crosses into a grid — it’s so simple even a child could enjoy it. You can set it to display as either boxes or crosses.
In any case, if you like the look of cross stitch, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by its machine-stitched version. Since the program allows you to set the size of the crosses and the number of stitch repetitions, the machine embroidery can visually come very close to hand stitching. And the result is achieved much faster. Of course, you lose the soothing handwork — many women stitch for the peaceful, focused process, not just the outcome. But honestly, watching the embroidery machine at work is pretty calming too, don’t you think?
So those are the advantages of machine cross stitch. Now, let’s talk about the downsides:
- Logically, it’s not really practical to embroider huge, large-scale designs like the ones people hand stitch. I mean, it’s possible, but it requires a great deal of precision and experience in aligning embroidery sections. So it’s definitely not recommended for beginners. Instead, focus on individual motifs, or combine and connect designs that don’t fill the entire hoop and don’t have strict square or rectangular shapes. If the edges are more irregular, any slight misalignment will be less noticeable.
- While traditional embroidery digitizers try to group areas of the same color together as much as possible to avoid unnecessary jumps by the machine, with cross stitch this is almost impossible by the nature of the technique. So be prepared for a lot of jumps in the design, which means a lot of thread cutting. If your machine has automatic thread trimming, this will be quite a different experience compared to regular embroidery. The machine usually won’t cut between very short jumps, so you’ll have to trim those manually. It will cut between larger areas, but this significantly increases the total embroidery time. I started machine embroidery back when automatic trimmers didn’t exist, so I was used to trimming manually even with regular embroidery, and it didn’t bother me much. But when I tried stitching a cross stitch design again recently after a long break… well, it was a bit of a shock. 😉
Be prepared — your embroidery area will probably look somehow like this:
The key rule is to trim the threads after every color — never let them get stitched over by the next color. This is especially important for those of you using multi-needle machines — make sure to set a STOP after each color so you can trim the threads. If you have curved embroidery scissors, now’s the time to really appreciate them. The best ones, hands down, are the double-curved Havel’s scissors, they’re absolutely top-notch. Over the years I have collected quite few various scissors but still there’s nothing better for embroidery. Look for: “Havel’s double curved embroidery scissors 3.5” — they’re totally worth it!
- Because of all those jumps between stitched areas, the necessary trims, and the greater number of thread colors, another downside of cross stitch machine embroidery is the time it takes. On the other hand, unlike regular embroidery, cross stitch doesn’t require repeating a color layer or stitching over areas again, so that saves some time as compensation.
- One last downside: color variety. Most cross stitch patterns — at least if you want them to look good — require a lot of color shades. And that can be a challenge, because while hand embroidery floss is cheap and comes in hundreds of shades, machine embroidery threads are a different story.
Now I’m going to say the opposite of what I usually say about threads for machine embroidery. Beginners often ask if they can use regular sewing thread for embroidery, and the answer is always a clear NO — sewing threads aren’t designed for it. They tend to break due to high speed of embroidery, they’re too thick for typical embroidery designs (making the design stiff and overcrowded), and they shed fine fibers that can clog your machine over time. So if any embroidery machine dealers are reading this, they probably won’t be thrilled — but I’ll say it anyway:
Cross stitch embroidery actually works better with sewing thread!
That extra thickness adds texture and makes the finished design look more like real hand stitching. Plus, sewing threads come in small 100 m spools for just a small expense and in lots of shades. Buying the same color range in embroidery thread would be much more expensive. If you already have a large stash of embroidery threads, this probably doesn’t apply to you. But for beginners, it can be a big help.
In any case, it’s absolutely essential to give your machine a thorough cleaning and blow-out after stitching with sewing thread. Really take care of your precious machine!
And before anyone accuses me of encouraging the use of improper materials and risking machine damage — let’s not forget that you can buy cotton and even wool embroidery threads specifically made for machine embroidery. For example, Sulky makes “Cotty” and “Wooly” threads, and Madeira has their “Lana” and “Cotona” sets, as shown below. These threads are intended for special embroidery techniques, so yes — your machine can work with more than just rayon and polyester, as long as you clean and maintain it properly.
And believe me — if you stitch something fluffy with wool thread, you’re really going to fuzz up your machine… and it’ll still handle it just fine.
For these particular Delft designs, you’ll only need one very light shade of pink and five shades of blue — so you might already have those in your embroidery thread stash. I used a mix of Sulky and Marathon threads.
As with any embroidery, it’s crucial to stabilize the fabric properly and hoop it tightly. Also, always use the smallest possible hoop for your design. In a larger hoop, the fabric tends to sag more easily, and the edges may not align perfectly — which is especially noticeable in cross stitch, where even tiny inaccuracies stand out more than in traditional embroidery designs.
When I originally stitched this pattern, I did it in three parts using a small hoop, since that was all I had at the time. But because the patterns aren’t meant to align perfectly, it wasn’t a problem at all. This time, I stitched all three parts combined into one in a large hoop — it was definitely faster, but the fabric sagged a little in one area, which resulted in a slight misalignment of maybe a tenth of a millimeter. (Of course, nobody but me would ever notice it with the naked eye.)
Originally, I wrote more about how to tweak parameters during the creation and stitching of cross stitch designs, but the text is already quite long — so I’ll save that for another time.
So, if you’d like to stitch these designs reminiscent of traditional Delft blue pottery, just e-mail me and I’ll send it to you.
When I first uploaded these designs to my website twenty years ago, I got lots of photos from ladies who stitched them in various color schemes — and I must say, they looked fantastic in green, brown, grey, and other shades too. So feel free to experiment!
And one last note — the embroidery was based on patterns from old magazines, so the credit for the design doesn’t belong to me. I just put in the effort to click out all the little squares in the Kreuz program.
Happy stitching — and don’t forget to show off your finished work!