How To Make A White Dove Cross Stitch Portrait

While I did share a few cross stitch items I embroidered for Rosh HaShana last fall, the fact that I have become totally obsessed with cross stitch, and making a contemporary gallery of cross stitch kosher animals and florals has become my go-to creative activity. Yes, I do copy some patterns, but more often than not I take an existing pattern and make it mine, very often creating without a plan! Not how most folks would approach cross stitch, as one ends up taking out stitches, but it works for me, and sometimes it even feels a bit like painting, funny enough!

Today is the 17th of Tammuz, and I really wanted to share a relevant craft for this solemn day, which leads into the “Three Weeks” of mourning on the Jewish calendar, this time we are specifically mourning the destruction of the Holy Temple, and a white dove is the perfect symbol of hope, so presenting you with How To Make A White Dove Cross Stitch, a perfect embroidery project for the three weeks.

One of the wonderful things about cross stitch is that you can even do it on cardboard, or paper, and you can mix things up with stitch size. It is basically pixel art, and I’ve been doing it in a slightly cleaner and more contemporary way.

And Importantly, my stitches are twice the size of the classic stitches, and I’m using the whole thickness of the embroidery thread, not separating it……so much easier on the eyes and produces larger items. Of course going larger than this one needs to use yarn, otherwise the canvas will show through too much.

The hoop that I use to make the piece becomes the frame, and so the works are ready to display immediately. Enjoy!

You’ll Need:

• Embroidery Thread: Four shades of grey from dark to light, reddish brown, rust, gold, white, black. Whole thread is used, not separated into two

• Aida Canvas 12 Count in golden color

• Oval Embroidery Hoop, size 18cm length x 14.5cm width

• Large eye embroidery needle and scissors

How To:

IMPORTANT note: I have made my cross stitches twice as large as conventional cross stitches, meaning the stitch is worked over 3×3 holes rather than 2×2 holes, which is much easier and enables one to create larger pieces for the same time investment. It is true, this size is not exactly delicate, but believe me it is quite wonderful, and you really don’t need to go to all the effort to make tiny stitches.

Sorry, I don’t have the time to create an actual cross stitch pattern, so just use my photo, knowing that design is 33 stitches wide, 44 stitches tall.

Find the center of your canvas and the center of your dove, and start stitching. Or figure out where to start the feet on your canvas and start there!

Happy cross stitching, and beware it can get very very addicting, I’ve spent the last year making a whole gallery of cross stitch animals and Jewish symbols and I just can’t stop. I do want to get back to my painting, but the cross stitch still has me going crazy. And so it goes!