Stage: 01

About

In 2025 I was really into Sonic the Hedgehog, and as I was prowling Tumblr looking for cool fan art, I came across some art made by brandirecognition. It was a drawing made to look like cross-stitching, and I liked the fandom twist on those cheesy types of embroidery you might see at your grandma's.

Now, since it was made to look like cross-stitching, several others including myself thought "But wouldn't it be funny if I stitched that for real". Two people then made patterns out of that fan art.

I had been working on a different cross stitch project, the Sheikah tapestry from Breath of the Wild, for over two years by this point. While I enjoyed it, I liked the thought of stitching something funny that reflected my current interests. At first I considered stitching this only after I completed that other project, but that would take a long time, and stitching something simple inbetween would be a nice break. So, I gathered up some fabric and thread and got to stitching.

Stage: 02

Credits

I mentioned them already in the about section, but a big thanks to the following people:

Brandirecognition, for creating the art that inspired this whole thing.

Opossumbyknight, for creating the stitching pattern that I used for this.

Sushibeth, for also going through the effort of creating a pattern, even though I didn't end up using it.

Stage: 03

Process

I used aida fabric for this project, which I have used plenty of times before. However, I was using evenweave fabric for the Sheikah tapestry, so it had actually been quite a while since I last used aida fabric. I do like how evenweave looks, especially because the holes in the fabric aren't that obvious compared to aida. Still, it was refreshing to use aida again. Especially because this pattern wasn't nearly as big, so I could stitch bigger crosses. Turns out that was a lot easier on the eyes.
(For comparison, a single cross in the Sheikah tapestry is about 1mm², while a cross on this pattern amounted to about 9mm²)

Even though this project was meant to be a break from the Sheikah tapestry, I still wanted to use this opportunity to try something new. When I was little, my mom had made me and my sister cross stitched Disney Princess pillows. So, I thought that I could try turning this stitching into a pillow. It shouldn't be too hard, it could really fit with the whole "grandma who's into fandom" vibe, and lord knows I have enough finished stuff lying around in the house. I wasn't gonna frame this.

The biggest problem I kept running into while stitching, was running out of thread. This pattern used even less colors than the Sheikah tapestry, and the crosses were a lot bigger, which meant I kept running out of thread. I had to get new thread what felt like constantly, which wasn't easy since my town doesn't have any stores that sell DMC thread. In some cases I had picked different colors than what was listed on the pattern, but that at least didn't cause any problems.

The interesting stuff was turning the thing into a pillow once I had finished the cross stitching. I had to get some fabric first, but my town didn't have any fabric stores, and I generally don't order something online unless I have no other way of getting it. I was planning to visit a certain city on an off day, so I checked if there were any fabric stores, and it turned out there was one. It was a delightful little place, and I spent a good few minutes just taking it in. I browsed the shop looking for the right fabric, and when I thought I'd found something, I discovered they had a box with scraps being sold at a discount, with the exact type of fabrics I wanted to use.

After that, I went to a crafts shop to pick up some stuffing for the pillow. I'd been there a few times before, but never for that, so I had to do some looking. Eventually though, I found a big bag of just the stuffing I needed. Thing was, it was a little too big for the bag I had with me at the time. I carried the pillow stuffing under one arm and my bag over my other shoulder for a while, before I managed to stuff the stuffing into my bag. It stuck out quite a bit, but I could still use the bag's handles, so I just carried it like that and walked back to the train station.

Now, I had no clue how to use a sewing machine, nor did I have access to one. My mom's sewing machine was still in storage somewhere after we'd moved house the previous year, but I didn't even think to dig it up and learn how to use it. Before I gathered the fabric and stuffing, I had looked up a tutorial or two explaining how I could turn cross stitching into a pillow. The tutorial mentioned using a sewing machine, but I figured I could simply hand stitch the whole thing, so that's what I did. It took some time, and obviously produced a messier result than a sewing machine would have, but I like it. It gives it some charm.

Funnily enough, actually stuffing the pillow took even longer. The pattern wasn't nearly as huge as the Sheikah tapestry, I doubt anything I stitch ever will be, but it was still pretty large, even after I'd cut off some excess fabric. I had a large pillowcase to fill, and I had to try my best to fill the corners properly and prevent the stuffing from being lumpy. Furthermore, I was making this during the summer, and went on vacation with my family in the middle of making this. That meant for three weeks, I had a half-stuffed pillow sitting on my windowsill, awaiting my return. Once I got back to it, I ended up using all the stuffing I had to fill the pillowcase, and even now I think I probably could have fit a little bit more in there. Maybe it's for the best though, stitching the gap closed was enough trouble* as it was.

It actually wasn't that much trouble, but the point still stands.

Stage: 04

Final Result

Here it is, the silly pillow!

The stuffing's shifted slightly over time, there used to be more in the bottom left corner, but it's not that big a deal. Overall the pillow's sturdy, and I'm very happy that the stitching's held up. I was a bit worried about the stitching coming loose, since I hadn't done that type of stitch before and it definitely looked pretty messy. It's been nearly a year now, though, I've rested against the pillow plenty of times, and nothing's come loose.

Overall I'm delighted by the result, I'm glad I tried my hand at something new.