Giving and receiving gifts at Christmas can be really fun, but it can get a bit stressful when you don’t know what to get someone, which can be the case if you don’t share the same hobbies.
As a cross stitcher myself (and owner of a craft business) buying crafty gifts comes quite easily, but I know it's really tough to get the balance between something you can be certain your crafter will love, but not something they'll already have loads of.
If you’re buying a gift for the cross stitcher in your life, you’ve come to the right place, because I’m going to make it super easy with our list of 8 Christmas gift ideas for cross stitchers.
(And if you’re a lover of cross stitch, send this to your loved ones who don’t know what to buy you for Christmas!)
1. Meloca Designs 2024 Advent Calendar, £79.95
Yes, I’m starting with one of my own products, but with good reason - an advent calendar is for the lead-up to Christmas, so you might want to get your hands on this ASAP so that you can give it to your loved one on the 1st of December.
(Or tell them to avoid social media in December so that they don’t see spoilers from other cross stitchers!)
With the Meloca Designs cross stitch advent calendar, you get 12 exciting cross stitch gifts to unwrap, and everything included is totally brand new - the designs don't exist anywhere else, and won't be available to shop until June 2025.
The cross stitch designs included are similar to our other mandala animal designs, and are suitable for all stitchers, regardless of experience.
2. A lap or seat stand for cross stitch, from £21.59
A lap or seat stand would make a really lovely Christmas gift for any cross stitchers who find it difficult to hold their work while stitching, whether that’s because of mobility issues, working on large, heavy pieces, or just for extra comfort.
Lap stands rest on your lap, while with seat stands, the base goes under your seat and is the right height for you to cross stitch easily, without having to hold your frame.
They usually have adjustable heights and angles, to make it comfortable for you, and they come with both rectangle or circular frames built-in, or some can clamp your own embroidery hoop onto the stand.
3. Beautiful hand-dyed aida fabric by The Stitchy Ferret, from £9.72
If your cross stitching friend loves colour, some vibrant fabric to stitch onto would be a lovely Christmas gift, and to make it even more special, make it unique hand-dyed fabric.
Every cross stitcher will have a stock of aida cloth in whites, creams and maybe the odd dark colour, but they probably don't have these creative alternatives.
You can choose from different aida fabric counts, as well as sizes. If your friend prefers to cross stitch on evenweave, The Stitchy Ferret hand-dyes evenweave too.
If you can’t find the right colour for your friend, why not buy some white aida fabric for your friend, and make a little kit to dye their own. You could include Rit Dye (£7.45) in their favourite colours, fabric, rubber gloves, salt to set the dye, and put it all inside a container to use for dyeing in.
4. Cross stitch subscription box, from £24.99
There are all sorts of crafty subscription boxes available, including lots of cross stitch ones, and usually you can pay upfront for an annual subscription, or a one-off if you’d prefer.
Your cross stitcher won’t have to pay for anything but will receive 4-12 subscription boxes over the course of the year, depending on how frequent their subscription is.
Some cross stitch subscription boxes I like are the Love Poppet Subscription Box (from £25), the Mood Subscription Box by Innocent Bones (from £24.99), and the Cross Stitch Subscription Box, which starts at a 3-month subscription for £57.
5. A subscription to The World of Cross Stitching magazine, £39.99
For just under £40 you can sign your favourite cross stitcher up to receive a year’s worth of magazines from The World of Cross Stitching - they’ll get 13 issues throughout the year.
The World of Cross Stitching is the number one cross stitch magazine in the UK, and inside there’s advice, techniques and inspiration for all levels of cross stitching, as well as over 75 patterns from cross stitch designers from all over the world - including me!
I’m a regular designer for The World of Cross Stitching, and have had 8 of my cross stitch designs printed - including the Meloca Designs Mandala Badger pattern, Easter Chick, and Highland Cow, with more in the works.
6. Help them see the details with a head magnifier, from £12
Head magnifiers are great for all sorts of crafts, but especially for cross stitchers, as it’s very detailed work with small stitches, and they’re useful for threading needles too.
These vary in price but I found this Modelcraft Slimline Headband Magnifier with 4 Lenses for £12, the Lightcraft LED Headband Magnifier Kit is £23, or this Modelcraft Heavy Duty Helping Hands Magnifier is a free-standing magnifier for £15.
7. Meloca Designs Needle Minders, £9.95-12.95
Is your cross stitcher friend always complaining about losing their needles? Give them a gift this Christmas that solves that problem and looks really cute.
Our unique needle minders magnetically hold needles, so they never get lost again. Not only are they a perfect Christmas gift for a cross stitcher, they’re great for those who love other embroidery, needlepoint, sewing, quilting, or dressmaking too.
The Christmas Tree Needle Minder would be a perfect dinky stocking filler gift, or choose from our signature mandala animal designs.
8. An Emma Congdon cross stitch pattern book, from £9
As a cross stitcher myself, it’s always nice to be given new projects to start over the Christmas holidays.
Emma Congdon is a really talented cross stitch designer, who specialises in contemporary designs and slogans. She has a few different cross stitch pattern books available, I love Cross Stitch for the Soul (£9.03) which has 20 easy to stitch and beautifully designed motivational and inspirational quotes.
You can also buy a set of 3 Emma Congdon books - Cross Stitch for the Heart, Cross Stitch for the Soul, and Cross Stitch for the Earth - for £39.99, which should keep the cross stitch lover in your life busy all year.
I’m sure your cross stitching loved one would be more than happy opening any of these gifts on Christmas morning - I know I would be!
If you need any more Christmas gift inspiration, have a look at my recent blog post 7 super cute & useful stocking fillers that crafters will love to get for Christmas 2024, and 8 creative & colourful cross stitch patterns for animal lovers too.