Disney Pixel Art Cross Stitch

Did you ever notice that the classic Disney Experience icons look a lot like cross stitch patterns? You know, the old 32 x 32 pixel icons that have jagged edges. I’ve noticed it, and I finally tried my hand at turning some of them into cross stitch patterns.

When I was younger, my stepmother loved to do stamped cross stitch; she liked being able to work with a printed pattern, to see exactly where her stitches had to go. Counted cross stitch relies on being able to accurately count and place individual stitches on completely blank piece of fabric, and she was afraid of making mistakes on the large pieces that she always worked on.

Trying Cross Stitch

Personally, I like counted cross stitch. It is relaxing, and the 32 x 32 stitch area is very easy to work with. I had absolutely no supplies, so I grabbed a cross stitch kit online. While I waited for the kit to arrive, I watched many YouTube videos so that I had the knowledge to dive right in. It’s pretty straight-forward, although I did learn that embroidery thread should be waxed/conditioned before working with it.

For the first design (Pluto), I used four threads on the needle. That made the stitches nice and full, leaving no room for the fabric to show between the stitches. The result is a solid design that looks—and feels—wonderful. The downside is that it could be hard to find the holes in the 14-count Aida cloth. This introduced a tiny bit of stress into an otherwise relaxing hobby. Maybe a 16 or 18-count cloth would have been better? My kit came with 14-count cloth, so that’s what I had to work with.

For the second design (Iago), I experimented with using only two threads on the needle, which is the standard amount. This design was a full 32 x 32 square (2.29″ x 2.29″), and I completed it in the same time that it took me to do Pluto. It was a lot faster, and the holes were much easier to see/find.

The end result has an overall crafty/handmade appearance compared to the Pluto design. The ‘X’ of the stitches are definitely more visible, and the fabric color shows through. But, the experience was definitely more relaxing. I wonder what three threads would look like on this fabric.

Since the writing of this post, I have discovered that 3 threads is perfect for 14-count Aida cloth.

The backside of the cross stitch patterns are a jumbled mess of threads, but I’ve seen much worse. Believe it or not, my backs are considered “tidy.”

And, no string-based craft would be complete without the assistance of a cat. They really do feel obliged to help you wrangle those wily threads.

Try Cross Stitch Yourself!

If you’d like to try your hand at counted cross stitch, here are the three patterns for Pluto, Iago, and Mara (Indiana Jones Adventure). These patterns are far more colorful than the ones that I did. I have a limited palette of 100 colors, so I had to adjust the color schemes of the characters accordingly for my own use.

Make Your Own Cross Stitch Patterns

If you’d like to make your own patterns from our icons, there are online converters that can take any image and convert them into patterns that you can download and print at home.

Pixel-Stitch is a no-nonsense option with just enough features to get you going. Pic2Pat is far simpler. And, you can always go for the full-featured, options-up-the-wazoo paid programs like MacStitch & WinStitch. There are a lot of programs out there to use, so do a little research and find the best one for you.

Next, you’ll want to gather some icons, and place them into a new folder so that they are on a clean, blank background. You’ll want to make the icons nice and large, and take a snapshot of your computer screen by pressing the Print Screen (‘PrtScn’) button on your keyboard. Open an image editor (Photoshop, Paint, etc.) and crop each icon. Save the files as JPG or PNG, and upload them to a pattern maker of your choice.

The Aida cloth comes in different sizes, and that will affect the physical size of your design. 14-count Aida has 14 stitches (or squares) per inch, 18-count Aida has 18 stitches (or squares) per inch, etcetera. Typical sizes are 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 22, and 28 count. Be sure to choose the stitch size in the pattern maker that matches the size of your Aida fabric.

If you’re wondering about what to do with your finished pieces, there are various decorative cross stitch frames available. You could also use mini picture frames.

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