I have learned that trial and error come hand in hand with cross-stitch design. And sometimes you even have lucky accidents. As I worked on my Christmas Owl Sitting on Books bookmark design (you can read about my owl bookmarks here), something seemed off about the design. After I cross-stitched the first version, I made some modifications to the design. I felt better about the design but still felt unsure about the best way to do the wording on the books. Should I use black embroidery floss or white embroidery floss? One strand or two strands of embroidery floss?
Separately, I cross-stitched the two books from the Christmas Owl bookmark design that had words on them to try out how to do the wording. Not wanting these practice books to go to waste, I decided to make a Christmas ornament out of them. I quickly made the decision on what to do for the words on the bookmark, but finalizing the design for the ornament took longer.
For the ornament, I first made the basic design. I kept the red and green book from the Owl design, then added a white book with the year and holly berries and leaves. I had a few ideas for color variations, so I started to cross-stitch them trying to find the perfect color scheme. More ideas came as I experimented with different color variations.
I first tried the design with a golden yellow for the year and for the accents on the white book (version 1).
Next, I tried gold for the year and for the accents on the white book (version 2).
Next, I again used metallic red and green accents on the red and green books, and I used metallic gold for the accents on the white book and for the year, a metallic thread for the words "Merry Christmas," and a light green for the backstitching on the inside of the holly leaves (version 4).
After each variation, something still seemed off. The deadline for the release date I had set loomed. I considered just picking one, but I decided to give it one more try.
This time I used white for the lettering of "Merry Christmas" (same as versions 1–3), metallic thread for the accents on the books (same or similar to versions 3–4), black for the year (but with a single thread rather than the double thread from version 3), and light green for the backstitching on the inside of the holly leaves (same as version 4).
Finally, I had a design that felt right, a design I was happy and satisfied with. I released the pattern for this design on Monday. It is available through my Etsy store.
In between version 2 and 3, I made a mistake while cross-stitching. Not paying close enough attention to what I was doing, I made the books 10 stitches smaller than they should have been. Once I realized my mistake, I decided to try and make something of it.
To my surprise, it turned out remarkably well. So, I made up a pattern for it and released it on Monday as well (available here).
So, through a mistake I ended up with a second design, and through trial and error I found a design I liked best. Which design is your favorite? Let me know in the comments below.
