Gallery - more to be uploaded soon!

Why?

Growing up with a Gameboy and GBA, like most people I am incredibly nostalgic for both Pokemon, Pokemon cards, and Pixel art. I quite often found myself thinking about the gorgeous art of the GameBoy Colour's "Pokemon Trading Card Game", and looking at sprite sheets of all the card art put together. Pixel art OF original Pokemon cards - what could be more nostalgic than that?!

I spent a lot of time idly thinking about ways of recreating the pixel art, and had coincidentally taken up embroidery and stitching around that time. I had never touched cross stitch before, but it seemed like the perfect vehicle to do pixel art. I'm certainly not the first to have thought of it!

How?

I think where my work differs from a lot of people, is that I happened to decide to stitch onto some coloured felt, which I have a whole collection of. I don't really like the look of a lot of cross stitch projects that simply leave the AIDA fabric blank as the background... some people paint onto it, or stitch every square - but that seems like way too much work to me. Because of the way AIDA fabric is woven, it is relatively easy to pull the threads apart, and I had always assumed this is what it was meant for! So I figured if I use the backing felt as one of the colours in my palette, it saves me stitching all of that area, and I can pull out the AIDA threads at the end.

Personally, I really like the effect. The finished pieces have a 3D quality, which I think looks really cool. Although, I don't think it worked out as being particularly time-saving in the end, because more often than not it's a massive pain to pull out all the threads ^^;

Can *I* do it??

Sure! I've had a few friends ask if they can do their own versions of these for their favourite Pokemon cards, and I think that's awesome! I don't feel like I meaningfully own any element of this project - the designs obviously aren't mine, and I'm sure I'm not the first to use felt as a background colour. If you do make your own though, I'd love to see it!

I use cheapo embroidery thread from AliExpress (DMC threads cost a FORTUNE), felt from my local craft stores, a thick-ish needle, scissors and AIDA fabric. AIDA comes in different sizes (from bigger to smaller sized squares) - I have no idea what size mine is, I happened to get a bunch with some embroidery hoops I ordered.

If you're doing any kind of embroidery, PLEASE look after yourself ^^; I started this project in lockdown, and was at some points doing hours and hours of cross stitching every single day (great distraction on boring work zoom calls). Turns out, I gave myself carpal tunnel/RSI (repeatative strain injury), which still flares up to this day x__x I advise doing no more than an hour or so each day (I give myself a thread limit - I literally "cut myself off" haha), doing frequent hand stretches/exercises, and stop when you feel ANY aching. Do NOT ignore the pain like I did ^^; Rubber thimbles to protect your fingers from the pressure of the lil needle (it adds up!) have also helped me a lot, and using a square frame instead of a round embroidery hoop has been both practical, and easier on my hands.