Edwin is a longtime Subversive Cross Stitcher who has constantly amazed me with his work--especially his super miniature versions of both his own and our designs on 25-count Lugano fabric! Like the Miniature Middle Finger kit shown above (Chapstick not included, ha). Scattered throughout the intro below you'll see photos of some of Edwin's other work (see all of his current patterns on our site by clicking here!)
PLUS he lives in New Zealand!! AND he's a poet! And a really nice guy with superb wit. So, here's his introduction!:
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Pretty soon I was experimenting with fancy frames, and patterns and the fabric count. My patterns became more elaborate, needing bigger fabric counts to be able to fit everything into the frames I buy.
I have settled with 25 count Lugana from Zweigart – it’s fairly inexpensive and available online or a local craft store.
I like to look at the free patterns available on the DMC website – there’s some very pretty patterns for framing a piece with flowers or vines or geometric patterns etc. I have adapted these, plus bits from Subversive Cross Stitch to make a number of patterns for myself, and others; and, I am so happy to be able to share with the rest of you – finally!
For others wanting to adapt their own patterns, I recommend crosstitch.com’s Cross-stitch calculator. If you find a frame you love and want to put in a cross-stitched piece, measure the visible area in the frame, then using the calculator, you can figure out how many stitches you have for the pattern depending on the count of your fabric. Once you have your measurements and fabric count, you can use Stitch Fiddle to make your pattern for free. Just enter the stitch height and width, then get started!