Creating Patchwork Cross Stitch from Leftover Embroidery Threads

Look what I finished!!

I started this patchwork cross stitch project way back in 2014, as a way to make use of those scrappy bits of leftover embroidery thread (floss) which aren't quite big enough to be worth keeping and winding back on the bobbin but which still have a few stitches left in them.

I saved up the threads in a compartment in my embroidery thread storage box, then would sit and do a whole batch of stitching in one evening - slowly building up the patchwork design in blocks of colour. It was a super relaxing process!

 

As I wrote when I blogged about this project last year, "I guess I could add a block at a time, each time I have a piece of leftover thread, but I quite like spending a few relaxing hours working on this from time to time. Plus, adding a bunch of colours at once helps me make the randomness of this project more of a controlled randomness - I can spread out the colours more easily, and get a more pleasing mix of tones and shapes than I think I would end up with if I added a block each time I had a scrap of thread to use up.

I like the randomness of this project and how the colour palette (and the speed at which it's growing) is entirely dictated by what other projects I'm working on, and the luck of what size thread scraps I'm left with... but I also want it to be something I love the look of when it's finished!"

To read more about how this piece has developed, click here to read all about how the project has progressed over the years and see lots of in-progress photos.

I'm really pleased with how the finished piece has turned out - someone pointed out that it looks like a tiny quilt, and it totally does! It's about 6 inches (15 cm) square and absolutely jam-packed with colour. Loads of happy hours of stitching have gone into it, but it also represents even more hours of stitching as, of course, these are all just the leftovers from other projects!

And - to think! - all those threads would otherwise have just gone to waste. It's going to be really hard breaking the habit of keeping my scrappy bits of thread now... maybe I'm going to need to start another leftovers-themed project? Hmm...

Want to make your own patchwork design from leftover threads? Simple! Just start keeping your own leftover threads, stitch them in blocks and just keep on going until you've slooooowly filled up a whole square with colour.

A patchwork design like this is also a great way to use up a whole bunch of embroidery threads from your stash, you don't specifically need to be using leftover threads. Just have fun playing around with colour combinations and shapes!

Last year several people asked me for the pattern for this design, which isn't really something I can properly share as I've used to many random colours making this piece. BUT, I have drawn out a chart of how my design ended up, in case you like how the arrangement of blocks look and fancy replicating it. You can use my photos as guide when picking colours and/or use felt tips or coloured pencils to colour in your printed chart to help guide your stitching.

Click here to view the chart in a new window or tab, make sure you're viewing it full size then print.

P.S. For even more scrappy goodness, check out my Patchwork Mini Squares blanket, knitted from yarn left over from many years worth of knitting projects.

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Scrappy Patchwork Cross Stitch: Another Colourful Work-in-Progress.

As well as having an actual patchwork quilt in progress, one of my other UFOs (UnFinished Objects) is a cross stitch homage to patchwork quilts: a colourful patchwork of blocks stitched from Xs of thread instead of fabric.

I started this cross stitch back in 2014, as a way to make use of those scrappy bits of leftover embroidery thread which aren't big enough to be worth keeping but still have a few stitches left in them.
 
By March 2015 I'd stitched 23 little blocks of colour...

... and by June that year it had grown to 40-something blocks and looked like this:

I've been working on this in stops and starts over the years. I save up thread scraps when I have them, then sit down to add a little batch of blocks when I've got a decent amount of thread saved up.

I guess I could add a block at a time, each time I have a piece of leftover thread, but I quite like spending a few relaxing hours working on this from time to time. Plus, adding a bunch of colours at once helps me make the randomness of this project more of a controlled randomness - I can spread out the colours more easily, and get a more pleasing mix of tones and shapes than I think I would end up with if I added a block each time I had a scrap of thread to use up.

I like the randomness of this project and how the colour palette (and the speed at which it's growing) is entirely dictated by what other projects I'm working on, and the luck of what size thread scraps I'm left with... but I also want it to be something I love the look of when it's finished!   

By October 2015 it looked like this...

... and it grew a little in July and August 2016.

I didn't photograph it for a while, just quietly collected leftover threads...

... and added blocks in little batches, until it December last year when it looked like this:

That photo ended up being really popular on Instagram after it got featured by A Beautiful Mess (very exciting!) and quite a few people asked me for the pattern. I don't think this is something I could really do a proper pattern for, though, as I'd have to find matching colours for soooo many random bits of thread.

I am thinking about drawing a chart of the blocks when it's finished (in case anyone wants to copy the exact pattern of shapes I've chosen) but really the best way to replicate this project would be to use your own leftover threads from your stitching projects and make your own unique patchwork piece. I find it a really relaxing project to work on, and it's hugely satisfying creating something so colourful from scraps that would otherwise have just been thrown away.

At the moment it looks like this:

As you can see, I've decided to make this piece a square one instead of filling the whole of the fabric. This is because a) I think it looks great as a square (and it'll look fabulous when its framed) and b) I wanted to reign it in a little so I don't end up cross stitching little coloured blocks forever.

Now there's a limited number of spaces left to fill up, the end is in sight... but who know how long it will take me to actually have the scraps (and the time) to fill them and get this piece finished!

A Patchwork Cross Stitch Update + Sewing in Italiano

Remember my patchwork cross stitch project?

I'm using small pieces of embroidery thread left over from other projects to stitch a mini patchwork "quilt" of random, colourful blocks.

 Here's how it looks at the moment:

It's great to be able to use up these scrappy bits of thread instead of just throwing them away, and it's a lot of fun seeing this develop organically as the months go by.

In other news, I got an excellent bit of post yesterday: a copy of the Italian edition of my first book! 

I'd been meaning to get a copy of this (and the German edition of my second book, which I blogged about the other day) for a while now but only just got round to ticking "buy those books!" off my To Do list.

It's really nice having these different editions sitting on on my bookshelf (the part of my bookcase which we jokingly refer to as my "ego shelf" as it contains my press clippings / portfolio folders plus all the books I've contributed to over the years)... but it's even nicer to think of all the happy felt-y things that will be being sewn in Germany & Italy because of them :)

Use It or Lose It: Unravelling

This week's crafting has been all about simple, relaxing projects - bits of restful craftiness squeezed into the start and end (and sometimes even the middle) of my working days.

Mostly I've been working on my patchwork blanket: using bits of yarn left over from other projects to make mini moss stitch squares to (very slowly) make a colourful, slightly chaotic blanket.

I've been knitting squares with bright yarn left over from my (still in progress) happy rainbow blanket, and with blue, white and grey yarn left over from my (now abandoned) attempt to record a year's weather in the medium of fluffy pompoms. In between knitting sessions, I've been sewing together the finished squares (and some I made earlier) and adding them to the blanket.

Inspired by my Use It or Lose It challenge, I've also admitted to myself that there are a couple of knitting projects on my "in progress" list that I'm never actually going to finish. So, I've unravelled them to put the yarn to good use as mini blanket squares.

This heap of yarn was originally going to be a stripey coffee cosy. I knitted it into stripes several years ago but never got round to turning it into a cosy like I'd planned... and now so many years have passed that I'm actually no longer friends with the person for whom it was going to be a gift! So, it's definitely time to abandon that particular project.

And this yarn? This used to be some patchwork squares, knitted by my mum 30+ years ago. She'd planned to make a blanket like this one but she never finished it. A couple of decades later I turned most of the squares into a trio of cushions that now have pride of place on the daybed in my studio.

There were a few extra squares left over that I never really knew what to do with. I made a half-hearted attempt to turn them into purses but never finished them - mainly, I think, because I was making "something" with them for the sake of it, rather than actually making something I wanted/needed.

It's great to be re-using the yarn my mum knitted with all those years ago, and especially to be knitting moss stitch squares just like hers!