The instructions include linen cuts required for stitching the piece over two threads of linen as well as one, on thread counts from 25 to 40. Cross, tent, and backstitch are used to execute the piece over one thread of linen. Stitched over one thread of 35-count linen, this finished piece will measure approximately 8-1/4″ x 8-1/2″. The women who stitched these patterns invented their own color vocabulary, and that’s where their genius survives. Pattern drawers used published design books for their inspiration, as well as wild flights of imagination. It requires no great Taste in Painting, nor the Principles of Drawing: but a wild kind of Imagination, to adorn their Works with a sort of regular confusion… (The London Tradesman, 1747) Pattern drawers are employed in drawings Patterns for…Embroiderers…They draw Patterns upon Paper, which they sell to Workmen that want them…This requires a fruitful Fancy, to invent new whims to please the changeable follies of the Ladies, for whose use their Work is chiefly intended. The exaggerated shapes suggest that this might have been a piece drawn by a “pattern drawer” whose vocation is described as follows: This Arcadian scene illustrates new and exotic creatures, increasingly popular with the upper middle-class English audience, intrigued by the fascinating new discoveries being made by mariners and men of science as the world expanded. You will find more free Cross Stitch Charts via our sister site: Free Craft Stuff.This design was inspired by an early eighteenth century English picture executed in tent stitch: a magnificent example of the art of needle painting by the meticulous employment of silk threads on fine linen. We wouldn’t want you doing the same section twice! Please Note: When we have split the chart up into 2 or more sheets we have always allowed for an overlap between the sheets. A chart is a guide, you are producing a work of art (craft) don’t be afraid to leave things out if you don’t want them there! Change colours if you wish or just make things different. Some bits are easier to read on the colours charts and some on the black and white.

We suggest you use both colour and black and white patterns together. When possible we do split the chart over several sheets ourselves. If not and you have a good computer then you can print off the large version of the chart and ask it “tile” it over several pages. Whenever possible we suggest you read these cross stitch patterns off the computer, or pad, that way you can zoom in as much as you like. Many of the titles which are marked “New Version” or “New Style” use this new system. Since the beginning of 2017 we have been trying on new conversion system which results in the use of fewer colours and less “fiddly bits” in the charts. All designs come in a range of counts and Anchor colour details ( some also come with DMC colour details.)

Free Cross Stitch Charts and Patterns to Download and use in your Craft Projects.

London cross stitch graph only