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Check out our collection of
free cross stitch patterns.
They are available for direct download and can be printed on any standard home printer.
All free cross stitch patterns are designed for 14 count aida and DMC threads. Each of our designs includes a color key and black/whtite chart in gif or jpg files. To download the pattern click on its image and you will see it alone in your browser window.From the menu of this window, select "Save image as" or "Copy".
History
Printed embroidery patterns have been around as early as 1525, but the Golden Age of cross-stitch began in 1804, when a print seller in Berlin named Phillipson began to develop blocked and colored patterns for mass production.
Many entrepreneurs followed and by 1840, over 14,000 designs were printed yearly!
As the first domestic sewing machine was introduced in 1851 and machine-embroidered clothing became available at reasonable prices, stitching went into a decline.
Cross stitch as we know it today was reborn in the sixties when many housewives found excess leisure time on their hands.
More history...
Samplers
What is a sampler? It is a strip of fabric, usually linen canvas, embroidered with examples of different stitches, typically sewn in silk thread.
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