Parveen Singh

Now, if you use your imagination, you might never have to stick to a pattern in a book ever again. Why should you restrict yourself to designs that you see in books? Perhaps, books cannot depict what you have in mind, and if that is the case, all you need to do is to use a little creativity and create cross stitch patterns that you can be proud of.

A flower here, a leaf there

Often, you find that you like a flower from one pattern but not its accompanying leaves. So, what do you do? Why, borrow leaves from neighboring patterns, or create them yourself. Perhaps the shape of the leaves that you see in a pattern isn't as flattering to the pattern, as you would like it to be. So, go ahead and change it.

Scrolls for depth and design

Perhaps you have a large tablecloth to do, and you want to make an impressive design by adding scrolls to it. Choose the length, color and kind of scrolls to suit your floral pattern, according to the height and width of your existing flower sprays. After all, they should look as if they "belong" to each other.

Once you get a sense of harmony and balance between scroll and flower spray, you can then go on to deciding the shade of scrolls ~ whether golden brown, dark brown or gray ~ and how many times they will appear in the length and breadth of your cloth.

Put your own color scheme together

Why should you confine yourself to conventional colors for animals, flowers or motifs? Whoever said you couldn't have a mauve teddy bear ~ if you want to be different and kid-friendly, you need to think of different colors for traditional objects. You might not, on the other hand, want to make such a drastic change ~ well then, go for the subtle, if you prefer, and make your teddy sandy or off-white.

When you make the simplest of changes, the result is your original creation that you can keep changing, according to the theme you're working on. Soon, you will find that there are as many colors for one object as your imagination allows there to be! 

Personalize a design

You've worked so hard on a particular pattern, and now it looks dull. Something is really amiss and you can't tell what. To lift it, why not try personalizing it by adding a verse or a quote. Of course, it will need to be related to the picture, but it's sure to be arresting as people will stop to read what you've cross stitched.

Dots, bit motifs and geometrical shapes

You've taken on a large project ~ perhaps a throw or a set of curtains or bed linen, if not a tablecloth. Now, as you plod along, trying to finish, you find it getting tedious and never-ending. To break the monotony and to traverse a large space without actually doing the large motifs of your design, add color and a bit of sparkle to your design by scattering a few small geometrical shapes or bit motifs taken from the actual design. Spread these at regular intervals across the area of the cloth and it's sure to add a delicate touch to the entire pattern. Besides, it won't be a verbatim reproduction of the pattern from your book. Once again, you'll be known for your originality!

Add lace for trimmings

If you're working on Aida or any evenweave fabric, you can give your design a touch of class by edging it with lace. Choose a lace design that's proportional in thickness to that of the pattern. Nothing can beat the effect lace has on handiwork, such as counted cross stitch. 

Portrait or bust?

Perhaps a friend has gifted you a portrait of a personality he or she admires and wants you to convert it into a counted cross stitch picture. You take it on ambitiously but soon discover that it's a lot of work, which you don't want to be bogged down with. Is there a way out? Sure. You can lessen your work and increase your creativity by doing just the head and shoulders, and converting a full length portrait into a bust of that personality. Isn't that unique? Why don't you try it?

If you try one or more of these tips to enhance your creativity, you will create a line of never-seen-before works in counted cross stitch.