Cross-stitch design "Fairy castle" - Free Cross-stitch patterns

Cross-stitch design “Fairy castle”

This magical fortress is a fantastic larger project to challenge you with your stitching, creating a charming finished design for your home.

With its pepperpot turrets and mullioned windows, this castle is straight out of the pages of a book. Luckily for us, fairytale castles like this do exist in real life, such as Neuschwanstein in Germany, King Ludwig’s elaborately turreted creation that sits atop
a Bavarian mountain, and which was also the inspiration for Disney’s famous castle logo as well as for Lucie’s version. She’s chosen to illustrate it at a quiet, still moment in the night, when the castle is lit up by moonlight to glow in a soft shade of pink, and the forest is full of blue shadows and whispers.
You will need:

Threads: Stranded cotton and metallic thread as listed in the key

Needle: Size 24 tapestry needle

Fabric: 14-count white aida measuring 40x36cm (16x14in)

Extras: Frame of your choice with a minimum aperture of 29.5×24.5cm (11 1/2 x 9 3/4in)

STITCH COUNT 164 high x 138 wide

DESIGN AREA 14 HPI (28-count evenweave) -30x25cm

These designs were stitched using DMC stranded cotton and DMC Light Effects

download:

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How to work with metallic thread

Lucie has used gold metallic thread to create a shimmering effect on the walls, windows, turrets and moon. If you’re new to using this type of thread, there are some tips to make working with it easier. Metallic thread can be quite springy, so it’s best to cut it into shorter lengths. If you’re finding that it’s fraying, then conditioning it with a product such as Thread Heaven can stop this. To get the best effect, the arms of your stitches need to lie flat so the light can be reflected off them. Normally metallic thread is stitched using two strands as you would for stranded cotton, but if this is tricky then you can use a single strand but stitch each arm of the cross twice, so the finished stitch still uses two strands.