How to Make an 8 Bit Video Game Cross Stitch

Embroidery needles or Cross Stitch needles – these needles have bigger eyes to accommodate the embroidery thread thickness.

Embroidery floss – cotton floss is the most commonly used embroidery and cross stitch thread. They are made up of 6 strands that are easily separable and loosely twisted together. It’s easiest to use lengths that are 12 – 14” to prevent knotting. Two companies that have been manufacturing floss since the 1800s, and are considered the best to use, are DMC and Anchor. You can also use silk and metallic thread (for accents, shading, embellishments, and overall sparkly goodness), or hand dyed threads which can create variegated patterns.

Cross stitch fabric – this fabric is stiffer than most fabrics, and has spaces, or holes, between the vertical and horizontal woven threads, allowing for easy and even stitching. Tip: you don’t need to use white fabric. You can choose a color that’s a good contrast for your character. Recommended: 14 count cotton fabric by Aida (Aida cross stitch fabrics are woven with the threads grouped together into bundles – which creates obvious holes for your needle work).

Scissors - you'll want to work with small, precise scissors meant for clipping details, with handles designed for comfort.

Embroidery hoop - polished bamboo hoops are easy to use, and come in several sizes. It's good to have several sizes on hand if you like to create different sized cross stitch pieces, based on the image you're making.

Did You Know?

“Cross-stitch is the oldest form of embroidery and can be found all over the world since the middle ages. Many folk museums show examples of clothing decorated with cross-stitch, especially from continental Europe, Asia, and Eastern and Central Europe.

The cross-stitch sampler is called that because it was generally stitched by a young girl to learn how to stitch and to record alphabet and other patterns to be used in her household sewing. These samples of her stitching could be referred back to over the years. Often, motifs and initials were stitched on household items to identify their owner, or simply to decorate the otherwise-plain cloth. The earliest known cross stitch sampler made in the United States is currently housed at Pilgrim Hall in Plymouth, Massachusetts.^​ The sampler was created by Loara Standish, daughter of Captain Myles Standish and pioneer of the Leviathan stitch, circa 1653.

Traditionally, cross-stitch was used to embellish items like household linens, tablecloths, dishcloths, and doilies (only a small portion of which would actually be embroidered, such as a border). Although there are many cross-stitchers who still employ it in this fashion, it is now increasingly popular to work the pattern on pieces of fabric and hang them on the wall for decoration. Cross-stitch is also often used to make greeting cards, pillowtops, or as inserts for box tops, coasters and trivets.

Multicoloured, shaded, painting-like patterns as we know them today are a fairly modern development, deriving from similar shaded patterns of Berlin wool work of the mid-nineteenth century. Besides designs created expressly for cross-stitch, there are software programs that convert a photograph or a fine art image into a chart suitable for stitching. One example of this is in the cross-stitched reproduction of the Sistine Chapel charted and stitched by Joanna Lopianowski-Roberts.^​

There are many cross-stitching "guilds" and groups across the United States and Europe which offer classes, collaborate on large projects, stitch for charity, and provide other ways for local cross-stitchers to get to know one another. Individually owned local needlework shops (LNS) often have stitching nights at their shops, or host weekend stitching retreats."

Source: Cross Stitch Wiki