Fun Cross Stitch Pattern

Back in the 80's, I remember watching a musical called Little Shop of Horrors. It was one of those funny, quirky films that sticks to your mind for sometime. Well recently, I saw the original black and white film released in 1960. Did you know that Jack Nicholson had a small role on it as the masochistic patient in the dentist office? I hardly recognized the young Nicholson until I looked closely at those unmistakable piercing eyes! Watching the old film renewed my interest in this cult film. I found the original theatrical poster and thought it would make a nice fun cross stitch project. This is how the original poster looks like:




















The first step on creating a cross stitch pattern for this poster is to edit it in Photoshop. I had to take out the text on the top and bottom. The white of the poster had to be brightened (it would become the white aida cloth).

This is how the picture looks like after all the editing on Photoshop:




















Now the real work begins. This is how it looks like after the image to cross stitch pattern is done. I initially put this against a black aida cloth background to see how much trimming and defining needed to be done.




















As you can see, the title has to be defined and the colors combined into one solid green shade, the other white outlines around the plant and man needed to be taken out. The pattern also started with 30 colors which probably would do with some consolidation. I'm often able to do without back stitching but in this case, I probably would need to do it around the man's face to define the smile and eyes.

When working with an image like this, designing the cross stitch pattern can be a bit tricky. You need to find the balance between getting just enough definition to make it look like the image but at the same time not making the finished cross stitch pattern too huge and complicated than it needs to be. After working on it for hours, this is how the final cross stitch pattern came out.













The finished cross stitch size for a 14 count aida cloth is 10" x 12". Just the right size to hang in your living room or play room! The DMC threads used on this is only 18 colors. Using full stitches and some back stitches on the face only.

This cross stitch pattern will be a delightful project for beginners!