Cazzy's Step by Step Guide to Desiging Your Own Cross Stitch Patterns (courtesy of Sonic the Hedgehog)

Okay, you'll no doubt remember that the start of my blog I said I wasn’t planning on doing any “how to guides” as there are enough on the internet already, but people keep asking me how I design my charts so I’ve decided to relent.

My first “How to” features SEGA’s blue mascot “Sonic the Hedgehog”, and how I turned a drawing I did all the way back in 1993, from this…

Into this!

This project came about following a loft-clearing session my brother and I had at my mum and dad’s house over the Easter weekend in 2008. As we trawled through 25 years worth of clutter, I came across a folder full of sketches and drawings I had done during the early 1990’s.

This particular drawing of Sonic hand-gliding caught my eye – I couldn’t help thinking it would be a great drawing to convert into cross-stitch so I took the box of drawings back to my flat and started working on turning my drawing into a cross-stitch pattern.

NOTE! The original image came from the cover art from the Game Gear/Master System version of Sonic 2:

So how does one get started? As well as having the reference images to work from, you also need to have materials – these are the materials I used for this part of the project:

* Mechanical pencil

* Fine liner pen (with a .03 nib)

* Scotch tape

* Ruler

* Tracing paper

* Graph Paper (with a 10x10 square grid)

STEP #1

As well as having the coloured drawing to work from, I was fortunate to have a black and white pencil sketch which I was going to use as my template:

STEP #2

Secure the template image using scotch tape to your drawing board and then place a piece of tracing paper over the top (again secure to stop the work slipping), then using the a fine liner pen (I used a .03 nib) trace the black outline onto the tracing paper:

STEP #3

Now come the tricky bit – getting the image down on graph paper.

There are 2 methods of “tracing” the image onto the graph paper, the easiest way (which I’ve found out about since I designed this). Is to “flip” the image and run a pencil over the reverse. Then you turn the image right side round and then trace the image onto the graph paper – when you take the tracing paper away, you are left with a fine pencil outline which you can then go over in either pencil or pen.

I used the harder method on this project in that I was tracing through the graph paper – it was not easy to do and was quite time consuming (unlike the other method) and I would not recommend this method unless you own a light box.

It took me a few evenings to copy the whole image over but this the finished graph:

It’s still not perfect, as the image has not been broken down into the various “shaded” areas – that bit comes next!

STEP #4

The next step is to pick the colours you wish to use in the design, which can also be quite tricky! Even though the finished chart would be done on a computer, the colour palette is not always a perfect match so it helps to see the actual threads to make sure you have the right colours!

These are the materials you will need for this part of the project:

* Original drawing/reference image

* Coloured felt pens

* Threads (I used Anchor Stranded cotton)

* A computer with charting software (I used Jane Greenoff’s Pattern Creator 2” on this project)

NOTE! If you are serious about designing then you should probably consider investing in a shade card (preferably one with actual thread swatches in it).

I made several photocopies of the graph – these would be used to break up the design into relevant colours etc (this is where the felt pens will come in useful).

Once I was satisfied with the colours I had chosen and had decided what shades would go where, I began working on importing the design into my charting software – it took me several evenings to do this. Here, Sonic’s head and body as well as the sail, have been charted:

STEP #5

Once the chart is made up, then the fun of stitching can begin! A new set of materials will be required:

* Aida cloth in the relevant colour and hole size (I used 14-HPI sky-blue aida for this project)
* The relevant coloured threads (it helps if these can be pre-sorted onto cards before hand)

* Size 24 Tapestry needles

* Good sharp embroidery scissors

* A Magnet board to hold your chart

* A highlighter pen (for marking off your chart)

* Thread Heaven – thread conditioner (optional)

From here on in, it’s just about the stitching, and you don’t need me to tell you how to do that! Here are a few images of the design I took whilst stitching:

Finally, you’ve probably noticed that I didn’t stitch the border on the finished piece – it came down “couldn’t be bothered” in the end, but if I ever get this framed, I may decide to add it.

Designing isn’t that difficult, but it can be time consuming and does require an element of patience!

So here is the finished article again (I hope you like it):

BTW, this pattern isn’t going to be available for download on my website, but if people like it and ask for it, I may change my mind!