100 small cross stitch alphabets organized by height, including 50 new designs. From Lord Libidan. Available in paperback, Kindle, and PDF.

I'm no stranger to disappearing cross stitch alphabets. As time goes on, more and more cross stitch patterns disappear, and it bothers me! Cross stitch samplers are a major part of our history; from missing letters to museum pieces. Now, many of you know me for my collection of free cross stitch alphabets, but what you may not know is that people contact me all the time asking for new fonts, new styles, and access to my pattern backlog.

I truly think that about 12 years ago, we were at the peak of cross stitch magazines. They appeared to be everywhere, from the traditional to the modern. And then, they died. The loss of major cross stitch magazines like Cross Stitch Crazy and Cross Stitch Gold to the small upstarts like the Xstitch Mag, and every cross stitch magazine losing readership and circulation.

I do not doubt that historic cross stitch patterns are being deleted from the internet, but at the same time, the quality is tanking too. Ironically, one of the main reasons for this is the abundance of portals that cross stitch designers can use to sell patterns. This should, therefore, suggest that curated patterns are becoming the norm, pushing poor quality patterns to the sidelines.

About a month ago we spoke about why cross stitch alphabets are so hard to come by, and it got me thinking; that it really isn't only alphabet patterns that are harder to come by now. Back when I started cross stitch, there were literally hundreds of cross stitch websites offering thousands of free cross stitch patterns. In fact, that's what allowed me to get into cross stitch in the first place.

I often get asked what cross stitch accessories a new stitcher should buy, and whilst I often supply them with a list, I also often give them a list of what not to get. Items that every cross stitcher eventually gains in their collection, but never really needs. Sure, some are useful. Others are a waste of time. But most of us have these in our collection still!

We've all been there. We need a quick cross stitch alphabet to add to our pattern, or sign our work, or add a monogram. But when we go looking, we can only find heavily ornate designs or massive letter patterns. Etsy and Pinterest are great, but when you need to scroll for an hour to find something even slightly usable, you start to wonder: how did we get here?

It doesn't matter who is rounding up cross stitch books; there is one book that always appears: Jane Greenoff's New Cross Stitcher's Bible. Even our own list of best cross stitch books does. But in every review you see for the book, there is always a negative, always something holding it back from that big 5/5 score. So I have to wonder, is this actually the essential manual it claims to be?

Recently, a lot of my posts have been focused on the changing nature of cross stitch and how AI, in particular, has created some odd situations like Reddit groups adding in anti-AI rules, and AI stealing free patterns for profit. But there are good things to come out of the changing history of cross stitch. And one of those things is firmly the death of cross stitch gatekeepers.

Master cross stitch blending and shading with thread blending tips to create depth, detail, and realistic designs in your stitching.