2024 Stitchalong
The Stitchalong is technically over now – as part 5 (the final one) has just been released. You can still stitch it though!
Welcome to the Paine Free Crafts 2024 Stitchalong info page 🙂
To join the Stitchalong, you’ll need to make a simple decision..
Full Coverage? Or not?
We’re offering two different versions to stitch – both have the same theme.
The Theme
The theme for our 2024 stitchalong is “Elemental Evolution” (or “Evolution” for short). What happens when elements combine? We’re not talking chemical elements here either..
Both versions have the same “things” in them to stitch (and they will be released in the same order). However, the layout is different, the size is different, and the amount of work to complete is different.
Both versions have been created with cross stitch reading apps (Pattern Keeper, Markup R-XP etc) in mind. When you get part 1, you’ll see that there are a lot of blank pages in the pdf. This is deliberate.
When you get part 2, there are fewer blank pages, as the design begins to fill in.
And so on.
What this means in practical terms is that you can export your stitching progress from the part you’ve been working on, load the new part, import your stitching progress over the new part, which will then fill in the bits you’ve finished! Of course, if you’re joining later, all you need to do is load up the latest part – no need to worry about earlier ones, because they’re all included in each part!
Option 1 – Traditional Cross Stitch – join HERE
This option has thread blends (where you use one strand of one colour, and one strand of another, in the needle at the same time, to create a sort of tweeded colour blend), and backstitch. It does not contain partial stitches, although some of the backstitches (not many though) will “split” the square you’re stitching on.
It has 98 solid colours, and 33 blends of those colours (total 131 different colours). It is not FULLY Pattern Keeper compatible because of the backstitch, but apart from the backstitch and the need to enter blends, this is otherwise compatible.
The design size is 420 x 108 stitches. Because there are blends and backstitch, we don’t recommend you use a higher count than 20.
We will only be making kits in 14, 18, or 20 count fabric for this one.
You’ll find fabric sizes, and a full floss list on the joining page.
Option 2 – Full Coverage Cross Stitch – join Here
This option is a full coverage design. No blends, no backstitch, no partials. But it IS bigger.. and fully compatible with Pattern Keeper and Markup R-XP.
This design has 140 colours, and is 500 x 396 sts. We don’t expect you’ll be able to stitch it at the same pace as the other one, but give it a shot anyway! You can stitch this on whatever count you like – and if you want us to make a kit, you can choose from multiple fabric options.
FAQ
How many parts are there?
Five including part 1 which you get when you join.
How much is this going to cost?
Just the one fee (£15 plus your local tax where relevant for the PDF, kit prices are dependent on options chosen).
If I order a matching needleminder, will it give me a clue about what’s to come?
We will only be making needleminders for parts that have already been released.. so if you order a kit after all 5 parts have been released, it could be one of five, but if you order a kit when only the first part is released, the matching minder will match part 1… (no sneak previews!)
What happens with later parts?
All later parts will be free to you (there’s stuff going on behind the scenes in the website coding!). You’ll be added to an email list (for the stitchalong only) and told when a new piece is ready for download (it’ll be the first week in each month, starting in JUNE – to allow you to have at least made a good start on the first part, and for us to have got kits out for those who want them). When you get the email, log in to your account on the website, add the latest part to your basket. When you go to checkout, you should see that the price reduces down to 0.00 – if it doesn’t, contact us and we’ll sort it.
Can I see part 1 before I choose to join?
Yes! – clicking the “join” link will just take you to the page where you can see all this detail, including a picture of the first part for each version (on that version’s page).
I’m undecided, can I join later when there are more parts to see?
Yes you can! Join whenever you want to, even after it’s technically finished.
Was Generative AI involved?
None of the artists we licence had quite what we were looking for, so we used some concept art from Midjourney AI (that we created ourself, not using ANY artist names in prompts) and then created a design of the “things” in our process, changing a lot of the details. Some of you might know that Simon (Sarah’s hubby, and also the one who serges all the fabric in your kits) has a background in graphic design and is a talented artist himself – so he put it all together, and created a scene to put them in – for both versions. And then Sarah did the tweaking to make it a bit more stitchable! So although it did start out as a few AI images to help with visualising the initial concept, it’s had a huge amount of human involvement in the creation.