I like to imagine that I have all the time in the world to stitch, so in the meantime, I ogle and drool over patterns and put them in my 'someday I'll stitch this' pile. Do you do that, too? I bet you do.
For this article, I wanted to showcase some of my favorite Summer themed patterns! Click on the images to access the pattern listings.
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Summer Sucks - The Witchy Stitcher
We're barely into summer here in Georgia, but already I've been saying this under my breath. I asked Meg about this design and she said,
"I’m a legit vampire that can’t handle the heat and my pasty white skin screeches at the sight of the sun."
Me, too, boo… me too. This pattern is a good reminder to protect your skin and eyes if you go outside!
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Busy Doing Nothing - Crybaby Cross Stitch
I'm also a huge fan of doing absolutely nothing. Like… just sitting in one spot, absorbing air conditioning. I'm thankful for air conditioning. I asked our pal, Pamela, of Crybaby her inspiration for this sampler and she explained,
"When it comes to design inspo for cross stitch, I have two main aesthetic references: tattooing and traditional Quaker cross stitch. This pattern is one in particular that is heavily influenced by traditional Quaker motifs--featuring a modern take on Quaker fonts and a floral border to boot. This design is two years old now, but the major inspo behind it was manifesting the idea of doing nothing.
When you run a small business full time like myself or are juggling another full time job while doing the small biz hustle, time just seems to mysteriously vanish. You'll be working on something that you think will take you one to two hours tops, then poof six hours have gone by and you forgot to feed yourself all day. This happens to me especially during those super busy seasons like summer, when I'm juggling 2 to 3 markets a month and am constantly working away and hustling my behind off, just get that one day off so I can be busy doing nothing. "
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Flamingo Blackwork - Trunky Stitches
Sometimes you want to zone out and stitch something that's a repetitive so you get that sweet serotonin and blackwork is perfect for that! When I think of summer, I also think of flamingos, because they're tropical and tropical means HOT, right? TrunkyStitches also loves flamingos!
"I enjoyed designing this pattern so much as flamingos are one of my favorite birds, being elegant, vibrant, and full of character. My other animal blackwork designs are mostly monochrome with a hint of colour, but when a flamingo pattern was suggested, I knew it had to be fun, evoking tropical and summer vibes. The hot pink adds a bold, playful touch, the lush greens bring a sense of natural freshness, and the lemon yellow injects brightness and energy. I enjoy challenging myself to design my animals as small as possible while maintaining detail, and the origami look worked perfectly for the flamingos."
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Tuxey in Watermelon Heaven - StitchWithCoffee
You know what else is awesome in summer? WATERMELON. It's so delicious and hydrating! Have you ever had watermelon agua fresca? I had to share a pattern with a watermelon in it, and this design by StitchWithCoffee has everything I love. Here's how this pattern (and series) came to be!
"So I started designing after my cat Coffee passed in 2018. She used to sit by me while I stitched(This is where Stitch with Coffee Designs came from) and after she passed I designed my first chart commemorating Coffee with sunflowers around her. Tuxey Series came about during COVID when a little tuxedo cat came by where I used to work. We had a small little garden in the back and he used to just stop by and hang out and take treats. He stopped coming and I found out later he was taken in by a woman who lives nearby. This tuxedo cat(I used to call him Theo) made me love going to work during that time, and because I miss him I continue to design projects with him in it. Obviously, I love cats. Most of my designs include cats, nature, holidays, etc. to capture certain memories and sometimes invent them by imagining it through cross stitching. "
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Jack-0-Melon - The Stitch Crypt
I can't share a watermelon pattern and not share this one, too, especially since I've also stitched it! We are roughly 100 days until Halloween, but it's always spooky in my heart. It's always spooky in Jen's heart, too, and you can tell in this design of a watermelon with a pumpkin face! And spooky ghosts! This is how Jen was inspired to create this summer pattern:
"I thought back to a free pattern I made of a jack-o-lantern with ghosts coming out of it and thought that could work for a cute Summerween pattern if it was a watermelon instead. Why should Halloween be just one day? Let's make it year round!"
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Perfect Beach Body - Stitch.Tits
When I saw this pattern, I gasped. I gasped so loud because this pattern is so perfect. I love the palette, I love the vibes, I love the empowerment. I reached out to Jess of Stitch.Tits and she gave me the run-down of how this pattern came to be. 100% perfect Summer pattern.
"My inspiration for this piece was a meme saying “The idea that the ideal beach body just means being thin and buff is so unimaginative. Surely the ideal beach body would be a powerful lobster claw, arm flaps to act as a windbreak, and a sand repellant anus.” (Source unknown.) As a supporter of the body positivity movement and a critic of useless beauty standards, I decided to create my own ideal beach body. I had also just watched an old film entitled ‘The She-Creature’ (1956) and took inspiration from the ridiculous female sea monster whose only “female” attributes were big knockers."
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Summertime Magic - FlossyFoxShop
Summer is the perfect time for swimming, too, and FlossyFoxShop delivers with this Summertime Magic pattern! There's a mermaid, a whale, a frog, fishes, and a KOI DRAGON! How cool is that? This whole project makes you feel like you're underwater. I asked Andrea how her brain comes up with so much cuteness and she gave us this perfect explanation into her design process.
"A lot of my design process involves one spark of inspiration, and then as I go throughout my days, other things I see or thoughts I have end up going along for the ride. These Magic designs often take up to a month to design, with little pieces getting added each day to build a crowded and cozy picture.
For Summertime Magic, I started out wanting one thing—a Koi Dragon. This has been a creature that’s been living in my brain for a long time. I loved the idea of a benevolent water dragon with koi spots—a wise and kind creature that is happy to lend its aid to troubled adventurers. After that, I remember I really wanted it to have a ton of tadpoles swimming around the dragon, but they just weren’t looking right, so I added fish and a huge frog instead. The flying whale actually started as a Pegasus, but I knew that wasn’t quite right, it needed to be a water-y sort of animal that could still be flying in the sky. And then I decided a flying whale wasn’t quite enough, she needed to be a princess, so now she has a crown. (That Pegasus actually ended up being reused in Winter Magic later on!) The mermaid seemed necessary at that point—you can’t have a water dragon and not a mermaid.
I think Summertime Magic is an interesting entry into the evolution of my Magic series. It’s the second I ever designed, and it kept some of the features that made Springtime Magic special, but also introduced some new elements. This series started out with a heavy focus on nature, and I tried to add a creature that would embody Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. For this pattern, my personal headcanon is that the flying whale is a wind spirit, the koi dragon a swimming fire spirit, the mermaid tends the earth of the depths and cares for her watery garden, and the frog is a water spirit that keeps his territory clean and pure. I like my patterns to tell a secret story, and the story of this one is a tale of harmony in the water."
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Mini Cat Garden - UnaBuenaPieza
I had to slide this design in because A. I love cats and I've been seeing them roam the neighborhood and I worry that they aren't hydrated enough. B. It has all these cute flower motifs and pops of color. It just looks like a fun pattern to stitch, with smaller motifs that make you feel like you're accomplishing a lot in a little amount of time. I asked our friend Anna about this design and she tells us,
"The Cat Garden is one of the patterns I have had the most fun designing. Cats are animals that have always fascinated me: they are majestic small tigers that happen to tolerate having us around them. I am lucky to share my life with 2 of them (my beloved Tomás and Cristina) and they surprise me every day. With this pattern I wanted to show the beauty of cats as well as their fun and mischievous behavior."
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Cozy Swamp - Nathnolu
Have you seen Nathnolu's designs? They came out of nowhere with an amazing catalog of adorable designs! I live in an area that is mainly marshland and beach, so seeing a swamp pattern caught my eye. Especially with the frogs, who sing when the sun goes down, echoing through the trees. Here's a little bit of Nathnolu's inspiration for this design!
"I’m afraid it won’t make a beautiful story. It was originally supposed to be a summer sampler. I started to draw water lilies, and then the «magic» happened when everything works itself out. Frogs and dragonflies came from somewhere, and the main thing at that moment is not to prevent creativity from manifesting itself. There is too much to control in this life. So this work «created itself» I just did not prevent it from appearing. I really appreciate these patterns because I can usually spend three days choosing between two shades of the same color."
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I hope you enjoyed this compilation of different summer designs. Thank you to all the designers that have humored me with my incessant questions!
Have you seen anything new? What are you stitching this summer?
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