Also, How to Add Lettering From a Different Pattern/Combine Two Patterns. ☺
Here are all the progress pics I took. I think the whole project took about 3 weeks. That’s awesome!!
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I googled “adventure quotes” and found this one from The Three Musketeers. I haven’t read it yet but it’s on my list!
The alphabet is from Better Homes & Gardens 2001 Cross Stitch Designs. I love www.printablepaper.com for custom graphs! You can pick any size you like/need and download the pdf for free. AMAZINGLY helpful. I chose the 10 squares per inch because it’s easier for me. Most patterns are laid out in a 10×10 grid. I counted how many boxes (10×10 square=1 box) high and wide the crest pattern is, and wrote that down, to be sure I didn’t go wider than the crest and to be sure I could get close to centering it.
Then I wrote out the quote, and counted in the alphabet pattern how many stitches each letter takes. I figured about 2 stitches between the lower case letters and 3 between the upper case letters would be good spacing and added that count too. I count up the stitches in each word and wrote down the count.
Then, I looked at the crest pattern again and cotned how many boxes were on either side fo the center line. I had about 25-30 stitches on each side to work with, without going over 30 on each side. That’s a lot of stitches so I didn’t want to crowd the words and get too far to one side.
I quickly wrote out an idea of placement for the letters, like this:
Quarrels,
but seek
Hazardous
ADVENTURE
-Dumas
And my first try looked great just like that, so I went about drawing the center line on the graph. I added the stitch count on the first two words and halfed it, then sketched it on the graph.( Keep in mind a lot of this process is kind of hit and miss, fix as I go, fly by the seat of my pants, lol.)
“Never Fear” was off center on my first try but I liked the look of it and thought making the next couple lines go progressively to the right would look nice. I drew in the letters and approved it. I made “Harzardous” centered, then “ADVENTURE” centered beneath it. I went with all caps on that for a little drama. The loop-de-loops on the capital letters threw me for…a loop…so I added a box between in each letter to see how it would help fill it in without overcrowding it. Love it!
I decided to make the words about ten stitches below the crest. that’s just enough space to make everything look even. I rarely measure with a ruler or anything, it’s all stitch counts on the fabric and “boxes” on the pattern. Dad would say I “eyeballed it”.
Ta-da! I wanted to finish this before a stitch-a-long starts in a couple weeks. I’ve had so much fun with it!
I found another pattern in my stash, Masquerade by Ink Circles. I ordered some more glorious fabric from Garibaldi’s Needlework for that, in a nice purple. I’m kind of hoping to have it for Halloween/Fall this year. I made the mistake discovered her website and bought three more patterns! Those should arrive in the mail this week! woohoo! I have some black fabric in the stash I’m hoping will fit one of these (dare I hope, two?).
Hooray for cross stitch wizardry and subversive stitchery!