The Stitchety Witch

happy prideee you can now make your own custom pride flag planet cross-stitch patterns 🌈🌈🌈

which in turn activated my sleeper autist, and we ended up talking about fiber arts, where i learned that this woman is part of the local lacemaker's guild and uses her woodworking experience to carve lace bobbins on the lathe. she then gave me the email address of the woman who runs it, because their group has no social media and only meets when the lead lady says 'everyone come to my house.'

while all of this was going on, another woman walks up. her partner was shopping for wood repair stuff and she heard us talking about fiber- she's a spinner who does historical reenactments nearby. period accurate, processes the wool herself. of course i ask her if they need volunteers and she gives me her contact info

@samplerbot

DMC Color Key: ■ 3750 Antique Blue Very Dark ■ 3840 Lavender Blue Light ■ 3842 Wedgewood Very Dark

Dimensions: 139 by 79 stitches. Font: 'pepminus10.ttf' by Peplum. Border: Adapted from Elizabeth Holland's sampler, 1737.

In 2021, Swarovski (the company that makes the very sparkly crystals you see in certain jewelry, on figure-skaters' twinkliest outfits, on red carpet dresses), decided they didn't want the grubby fingers of small-time jewelers, clothing designers and costumers and crafters on their shiny beads and rhinestones anymore. They decided to limit their sales to "luxury" and couture creators, not girls who sell stuff on Etsy. The tenor of their press release on the subject was snide and insulting. Resellers (like your favorite bead shop) would no longer be allowed to carry their product; the average Jane on the street would not be able to purchase them. You could only get them if you had an authorized business agreement that bound you to very strict brand behavior. And those of us who still had good stock of the crystals would no longer be "permitted" to use the brand's name in our listings for sale.

Every bead shop and craft supply place and many, many small clothing makers--wedding shops, prom and dancing dress suppliers, the sort of salt of the Earth mom and pop time machines of shops that are the backbone of the field--scrambled to find something that could replace them. The last of the stock dwindled quickly, all of us grabbing what we could get while there was any chance of it, and then it was gone and we no longer had any access.

I was Big Pissed about it at the time. It was just so goddamn stuck-up, when wholesalers and indie jewelers had made them so much money, when some people I knew--when *I!*--had been brand-loyal for decades. But with no recourse, everyone pivoted fairly quickly, most of us to Preciosa Crystals. Those are Czech, quite sparkly, and considerably less expensive than Swarovski. The faceting method they use is different, but not worse; any differences are hardly noticeable when you're seeing them as a hundred pinpoints of light.

Well, out of nowhere, Swarovski just dropped this: https://www.harmanbeads.com/swarovski-brand-policy-update

"Effective June 1, 2026, Swarovski updated the distribution and brand usage policies introduced in 2021. Businesses may now purchase Swarovski Crystals without signing a Brand Control Agreement, and Authorized Distribution Partners may once again sell Swarovski Crystals to resellers, including bead stores and online retailers. Businesses may also use the Swarovski brand name when following Swarovski’s Proper Use Guidelines. Designers, manufacturers, artists, brands, retailers, and resellers are now eligible to purchase Swarovski Crystals through authorized distribution channels."

They want us back. A lot of the companies who could have kept a brand relationship with them also have swapped to Preciosa, over the last half-decade, in solidarity with indie creators and out of a sour awareness that it could be them, next. And it doesn't hurt that Preciosa was able to expand their line quite a bit now that everyone who wanted sparkle had no choice but to go to them.

And I'm not seeing nearly anyone who intends to return. The feeling is, "Y'all told us to fuck off! Off we fucked! And now, that's what you can do, too!" I'm seeing a lot of "How many of us did you stab in the back?" comments from the people whose money they're hoping to attract.

NEW PATTERN ✨

This one was outta my comfort zone, but MAN was it fun to stitch.

It also has a lot of different kinds of stitches you can do that make different densities of fabric.

I was surprised that I’d never heard of it though. It’s older than knitting and crocheting and even though it’s been done all over the world it’s super relevant to Nordic culture and my grandmother and I are both into keeping in touch with our roots a bit so I’m surprised I’ve never heard of it.

It’s also a lot easier to freehand and adjust as you go than crochet or knitting and you mostly go by inches instead of rows and number of stitches so a large number of accessories like stitch markers or whatever isn’t really necessary.

Botanical Applique Quilt by Chinami Terai (Japan)

All from the Antique Pattern Library

This twisty one

This pleasantly-flourished simple one. it's quirky.

I have no clue how one would include backstitching in a font, but it would look so good

This Art Deco set, from a pamphlet where it shares space with both the most stunning animal illustrations you've ever seen and also the world's most baffling, hideous borders

This one has a lowercase set, too. In a modern context this reads more as a retro game font than a cross-stitch one.

these would look INSANE stitched. more of a monogram font than one for sentences, but who cares. I could figure out some lowercases and this would absolutely COOK

Love the weight of this one. Gothic, fun, but not large enough to be unwieldy.

The first twisty font is better, I think. but if I had infinite time I'd do this one too

A very respectable twist on a classic sampler font. could get a lot of mileage out of this one

hot take but I think with a good lowercase set this one would also be good for a lot of things-- party in the capitals, but keep the lowercase legible.

a very respectable font. you could file your taxes with this one.

their bulbous forms entrance me. I REALLY like that 'H'

Another set that really should only be for monograms... but some part of me wants to believe I could make a proper font around these

LOVE the 'A', like the others. really dig that the original artist included a lowercase set, too

Bonus Monograms I like:

Tulip Star design from the book Peasant Designs from Saxon Transylvania by Heinz Edgar Kiewe, 1964.

Image 22, Plate VI

PDF and Stitchly file available for free on my Ko-Fi under the cut.

Enjoy!