What you need
Pattern Dimensions:
77 squares wide x 83 squares high
Finished Dimensions
on Size 14 Aida Fabric: 5.5″ x 5.9″ (14 cm x 15 cm)
Instructions
1 Cut the fabric 9.5″ x 10″ (25 cm x 26 cm), mark the center point, and secure it in the center of an embroidery hoop. Customize the pattern as needed.
2 Change the hairstyles if you’d like, and make any height or width adjustments to the characters in the pattern.
3 The text is optional and you may cross-stitch the sky without the text overlay.
4 Choose floss colors for each character’s skin tone and hair color.
5 Choose floss colors for each character’s clothing and the scenery.
Notice how everyone’s eyes look “sparkly” in this portrait. Changing the type of eye you stitch can affect the overall tone of your characters.
6 Use 3 strands of floss to cross-stitch each square in the pattern.
7 Use 1 strand of floss to backstitch all linear details, except use 2 threads for the mouths and text.
Note
The children in this pattern can represent a roughly four to seven-year-old, and a one to three-year-old respectively.
Customization tip!
Not only does this portrait utilize DMC Mouliné Étoile floss in the border, giving it a unique sparkle, but the hairstyles have been stitched to more accurately reflect the people. Parallel straight stitches, or satin stitches, top the heads of Grandpa, Grandson, and Granddaughter (who also sports a braid of embroidery floss). Grandma’s hair is a tight collection of French knots to represent her curls.
Grandparent Appreciation
Individuals
IF ADJUSTING THE FULL PATTERN IS TOO COMPLICATED, OR IF A GRANDPARENT IS SINGLE OR WIDOWED, TRY STITCHING UP ONE OF THESE SMALLER PATTERNS OF APPRECIATION.
CIRCLE BORDER
Pattern Dimensions: 44 squares wide x 44 squares high
Finished Dimensions
on Size 14 Aida Fabric: 3.1″ x 3.1″ (8 cm x 8 cm)
BERRY BORDER
Pattern Dimensions: 41 squares wide x 45 squares high
Finished Dimensions
on Size 14 Aida Fabric: 2.9″ x 3.2″ (7.5 cm x 8.25 cm)
INSTRUCTIONS
1 Cut the fabric 7″ x 7″ (18 cm x 18 cm), mark the center point, and secure it in the center of an embroidery hoop. Customize the pattern.
These portraits were lovingly stitched by Hillary Nestrick! Follow her on Instagram @keystonecrossstitch.
2 Choose a border and a grandma or grandpa character.
3 Notice how Grammy’s hair isn’t one solid color? Since the recommended number of threads for cross-stitching is 3, you can choose to combine up to 3 single threads of 3 different colors to create a more dynamic-looking head of hair!
4 Change the hairstyle if needed, and make width adjustments if you’d like to. Since this is an individual character the height is not relative to anyone else and can remain unchanged.
5 The text is optional and you may cross-stitch the hearts without the text overlay.
6 You can create your own words, or simply stitch “Love You” with one word on either side of the character.
7 Choose floss colors for the character’s skin tone and hair color.
8 Use 3 strands of floss to cross-stitch each square in the pattern.
9 Use 1 strand of floss to backstitch all linear details, except use 2 threads for the mouths and text.
Customization tip!
Remember you can swap the grandma character for the grandpa character if you prefer this border!
Feel free to get creative with your borders and details! The larger leaves at the top, bottom, left, and right of this portrait are stitched with groups of parallel straight stitches, and the smaller leaves are filled in with French knots instead of cross-stitches.
Lizzy Dabczynski-Bean 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
Excerpted with permission from Customize Your Cross-Stitch: Friends and Family (Walter Foster, an imprint of The Quarto Group, 2023) by Lizzy Dabczynski-Bean and The Team at Stitch People. Customize Your Cross-Stitch: Friends and Family publishes November 14, 2023 and can be purchased wherever fine books are sold. Learn more at quarto.com.
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