Last Updated on September 6, 2020
In this series, we look at a range of home activities where Linux can play its part, making the most of our time at home, keeping active and engaged. The change of lifestyle enforced by Covid-19 is an opportunity to expand our horizons, and spend more time on activities we have neglected in the past.
When we are instructed to stay at home, and only venture outdoors when it’s absolutely essential to do so, activities around the house spring to mind.
Cross-stitch is a form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery in which X-shaped stitches in a tiled, raster-like pattern are used to form a picture. The stitcher counts the threads on a piece of evenweave fabric (such as linen) in each direction so that the stitches are of uniform size and appearance. There’s some good open source software that helps create cross stitch patterns. Here’s our recommendations.
KXStitch
KXStitch is a program that lets you create cross stitch patterns and charts. Patterns can be created from scratch on a user defined size of grid, which can be enlarged or reduced in size as your pattern progresses.
The program offers many tools to aid designing your pattern, from open and filled rectangles and ellipses,filled polygons and lines and backstitching. We particularly like the program’s pattern library. This stores portions of patterns which can then be reused in other patterns.
The software can open PC Stitch pattern files.
Cstitch
Cstitch also turns an image into a cross stitch pattern and allows you to edit the generated pattern. The final product is a pdf of the cross stitch pattern and a list of the colors in the pattern.
Follow a simple four stage process: Choose your colours, compare colour choices, square the image and edit, and finally create the pattern and edit.
At the end of the process, you’ll have a PDF of the cross stitch pattern.
Crosti
Crosti is similar software to KXStitch and Cstitch. It allows you to make your own unique cross stitch design from custom images.
You can resize and rotate image, reduce the number of colors, change image palette, make cross stitch design, preview it, save and print.
Cross stitch design is available with the ability to change colours, icons, add new colours, design pixel draw, lines and half-stitches.
All articles in this series:
| Linux at Home | |
|---|---|
| Astronomy | Explore the universe from your garden |
| Brew Beer | Weave malt and hops and yeast together in unique combinations |
| Circuit Design | Learn to design electronic circuits |
| Collaborating | Edit documents collaboratively in real-time |
| Cooking | Home cooking is an activity that’s great for individuals and families |
| Creative Writing | Pen a classic novel or screenplay |
| Cross-stitching | A form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery |
| Digital Art | Paint and draw directly onto a computer |
| Digital Music Production | Digital Audio Workstations |
| DOOM Gaming | Take a break and play classic DOOM |
| Embroidery | Craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle |
| Exercising | Keeping fit can be a challenge with lockdown |
| Gardening | Plan your perfect garden with these great tools |
| Genealogy | Research your family tree |
| Home Security | CCTV solutions to protect your home |
| Musical Instrument | Learn to play an instrument |
| RSI | Reduce and prevent repetitive strain injury |