Riley Does Cross Stitch

I make cross stitch patterns I couldn't find anywhere else! rileydoescrossstitch.etsy.com

[well-someones-gotta-do-it]

Welcome to the Tumblr home of Riley Does Cross Stitch!

Most days I'm an actress-playwright, but when I'm not doing that or grad school, I'm cross stitching. I design my own patterns, because oftentimes I can't find exactly what I want. Eventually, I realized other people might be my kind of odd and enjoy them too, so I started selling patterns in my Etsy store!

Lately, I've been on a 2000s pop punk/emo kick (I've done designs for Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Gerard Way, Fall Out Boy, blink-182, Taking Back Sunday, and The Academy Is...), but I'm not branding myself as a bandom cross stitch account, because I can and will stitch whatever it so pleaseth me to stitch! So stick around to see what I'm up to and what I enjoy looking at!

#riley does cross stitch is the tag for my work. #friends do cross stitch! is the tag for other people’s finishes of my patterns. #not mine is for work that's not mine! And #we just got a letter! is for answered asks. Got it?

If you've done one of my patterns, please post and tag me in it! That's 3/4 of the joy of having social media!

Ask box is always open; hit me up with questions, marriage proposals, or lyrics you think I should stitch next!

xoxo Riley

[katleyh]

I've made another Gibson Girl embroidery, this time of a bicyclist. I based it off a Charles Gibson sketch.

It's available for purchase on my Etsy.

[well-someones-gotta-do-it]

Adventures in blackwork!! Meant to have both done in time to watch Miami with my sister, but I was also sewing a regency spencer that week (about which more later), so George had to wait his turn. I’ve been dying to do more blackwork since the Crimson Peak sampler lace border, and this was such a fun little challenge! The Mercedes stars were always gonna be an easy motif, but I want applause for puzzling out how to make McLaren’s asymmetrical swooshy curvy logo into a tessellating pattern on a square grid! Also, this was the tiniest bias binding I’ve ever done in my LIFE.

Should I do more drivers? Should I put these patterns up on Etsy? Should F1 bring back the Lego cars? Sound off!

[well-someones-gotta-do-it]

NEW ON ETSY!!! What more do I have to say? It’s a mini Riot album cover. It’s easy and adorable. You should go to my Etsy store and get the pattern right now!

A thousand thanks to the lovely @endeverous for some top-notch test stitching and pics! So excited about this one!

[embroiderycrafts]

Thanks to everyone who had advice about using watercolors by Grendelbeans on reddit.

[punkinvsblogging]

Hi. I finished this.

There are still some mistakes, but this one turned out way better than my first attempt. This is my second ever work. I think I’m doing okay so far.

I got the pattern here. I think they have a tumblr, but I can’t find it for some reason. Here’s their Instagram instead. I believe the pattern was inspired by this post. Here’s that person’s Instagram. :)<3

Now that I’m seeing that post again, I kinda wanna do a cross stitch of the first picture with the car…Maybe one day when I know more about cross stitch lol

[well-someones-gotta-do-it]

Me!! This is my pattern hello! (In collaboration with the lovely @tourfilm!) It turned out so good! Congrats on joining the wonderful world of cross stitch <3

[dramaticvictorianfemme]

face reveal

[toast-the-unknowing]

the bad news: I now hate my current wip and strongly believe there isn't a single joke in it that lands

the good news: I know my process enough to recognize this as the slump that I hit in everything I write when it's like three-quarters-ish done

the bad news: the only way out is through

the good news: I do know the way out!

the bad news: yeah but it's through

[toast-the-unknowing]

making a cross stitch that says "I am funny and he would fucking say that" to hang directly above my monitor

[toast-the-unknowing]

"hey toast you stayed up past midnight because you were working on the fic and not because you were procrastinating by making a hideous pattern for a joke cross stitch" have you never met a writer before

[toast-the-unknowing]

gonna tell my kids this was live laugh love

[loafofbr3adtm]

that one guy who's too infinity on high

[prompto-is-a-chocobo]

STOP THIS IS SO CUTE!

[rosieandthemoon]

TuskAndCardinal - Etsy

[footnoteinhistory]

Finished the first square of my latest project!! The border is the hardest part, the rest is just fun. I love the variegated thread but had to order more floss bc I severely underestimated how much I would go through each square oops

[oreramar]

Every time I'm forced by circumstance to hand-sew something, I remember a fairytale I once read. There are lead-up shenanigans as the humble protagonist helps small animals and meets the princess and all that, but in the climax, the princess rigs a contest for her hand by setting her own task: sew her a dress in a single night.

The noble suitors, who have never sewn a thing in their lives, sabotage themselves by their own ambitions: they choose difficult fabrics to work with and cut huge, elaborate patterns and select gems and pearls and beads to sew onto it, and snip such long bits of thread that they lose time detangling their stitches, and ultimately resort to pinning bits together as they run out of time, so that their offerings initially look beautiful and flashy, but when the princess tries them on they stick her with pin ends and fall apart as she moves.

The humble protagonist uses a very simple pattern without embellishments and sews using short lengths of thread (snipped off and threaded for him by little birds of course) which don't tangle and therefore save time. His dress is plain by contrast, but holds together and the princess is able to move freely in it, and so he wins the contest and her hand.

I particularly think about the bit about threading the needle with shorter lengths of thread, needing to tie off more often but avoiding tangles and thereby saving time.

I then ignore that piece of wisdom passed down through who knows how many years and proceed to cut the longest damn length of thread I can manage because I hate tying off beginning or ending knots and I will not subject myself to more of that even if it does mean more tangles along the way.

[craftkaiven]

Made a cross stitch pattern for Max Verstappen’s 2025 helmet a few weeks back! Honestly stoked with how this one turned out. The bull was a right headache to pattern but I think it turned out nice!

This one along with a 2024 version of both Lando and Oscar’s helmets are all on my Etsy! ✨

https://craftkaiven.etsy.com

[littlecicerospizza]

Little keychain I made to let everyone know what my freak is

[well-someones-gotta-do-it]

A belated artvsartist for 2025! This year looked very different for me craftily - I did more cosplay than ever before, took a GREAT quilting class, and spent most of my cross stitch time on a larger pattern of someone else’s rather than personal designs. I grew a lot as a crafter, and I still had time for some very fun cross stitches! What have been your favorites from this year?

I’ve already got some fun projects in the pipeline for 2026. Excited to keep crafting with y’all!

[lesbiansforboromir]

You actually cannot skip to being good at a creative endeavour that you haven't put much practice into. You cannot trick your way out of the 'knows that your work is not what you want it to be but don't know how to improve it' stage by planning or reading or talking about it really really hard. At some point you just have to craft through it until your brain finds it's own unique way back to the 'everything I make slaps' stage and be prepared to start the cycle all over again. You just have to make that project you're excited about slightly less good than you want it to be. (Says this standing in a pool of blood and covered in blood and also coughing up a little blood)

[hellenhighwater]

I picked up this rocking chair for $20 and fixed it just enough to be usable. I do sort of love how battered it is.

Malice helped, of course.