Heirloom Baby Blocks
Helpful Resources
How It Began
I recruited my friends & family to make a surprise set of blocks for my sister’s baby shower. From sourcing materials, to making pixel art, to tutorial design, to kit-making, to exorbitant postage bills, this project was certainly a labor of love (and so well worth it!). Here’s everything you could possibly need to know about the set of blocks that started it all.
Materials
Tapestry Needles have blunt tips and are large enough to hold thick tapestry wool. Size 18 works well for this project.
Sharp Scissors for snipping thread.
Plastic Canvas is the plastic mesh foundation for stitching each design. This project uses 3x3” squares, spaced at 7 dots per inch. Each block will require 6 squares.
DMC Tapestry Wool is 100% wool that is designed for needlepoint. Thick enough to provide full coverage on the canvas, colorfast, and will not fray mid-project like knitting yarn might.
Color Palette: White (ECRU) for designs and seams, Coral (7005), Guava (7010), Ecru (7905), Sage (7369), Peacock (7861), Pool (7802), Magpie (7860), and Brown (7489) only for the Sunflower.
How Much Wool Do I Need to Order?
Each block uses approximately 7 skeins for the designs and a little over 1 skein for seaming. Exact color quantities will depend on the designs you select for your project.
While skeins are inexpensive on their own, shipping can really add up if you keep having to reorder. Use this handy spreadsheet to calculate how much tapestry wool you’ll need for your project. Click the link, create a copy (File > Make a copy), and then enter which designs you plan to make.
Video Tutorials
How to Thread A Needle
How to Cross Stitch
How to Seam Blocks Together
How to Finish Corners
Let’s Get Stitching!
Download the PDF pattern for a guided cross stitch tutorial, helpful resources, and over 50 cross stitch charts including animals, foods, sports, alphabet, and more.
Make Them Your Own
Helpful tips for customizing your blocks.
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Organize a thoughtful group gift by asking participants to contribute a square that you’ll later combine together into a set of blocks for the baby-to-be.
To make kits to send to your makers, I suggest ordering supplies, snipping thread into strands (I divided skeins in half, four times in order to get 16 strands per skein), and using the handy spreadsheet to calculate how many strands are required to complete each design (create a copy of the spreadsheet, then “unhide” the columns in the middle). Not to worry, I included wiggle room in my strand calculations in case mistakes are made!
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You can easily customize your blocks with with your artwork! You can also look for inspiration by Googling “cross stitch” ideas.
To create all of my cross stitch charts, I used Procreate on my iPad, these free Pixel Art brushes, and a 19 x 19 pixel canvas. It’s an interesting artistic challenge to convey curves or sharp angles using only squares, and it is quite fun (addicting, even!) once you get the hang of it.
You can also create designs using graph paper, markers, colored pencils, or whatever you have on hand.
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If selecting your own color palette, I suggest choosing light, medium, and dark values of 2-3 colors, plus 1-2 accent colors. The seam/border color can be one of the existing colors in your palette, or an additional color that looks nice bordering all of the others.
When deciding which colors to use for each design, note that our eyes will be drawn to the places with the highest contrast. For example, it is striking to see a black subject on a white background, but a leafy green subject on a turquoise background might look a bit muddy or unclear. This is why it’s helpful to have light, medium, and dark values of different colors in your palette – you’ll have options for creating high contrast and variation with different color combinations.