One of the things I find lovely about geometric motifs in cross stitch patterns is the variety of ways you can use them. Here’s a chart and several ways to use it:

The chart

Backstitch

You can backstitch around the stitches with no cross stitch at all and you have an instant blackwork design.

Other Variations

• You can work them in long-armed cross using the Portuguese Arraiolos rug technique and you have something completely unique!
• You can work them in straight, normal cross stitch without any outlining, and get a lovely mosaic effect.
• You can try out different stitches as filling.. what if you replaced the lines of cross stitch with lines of chain stitch and then outlined over the edges?
• What happens if you use overdyed threads that change color?

A Bonus Chart and Backstitch Version

Oh, the possibilities are endless!

And on that note, you’ll notice that there were two cross stitch patterns in this post, both also translated to blackwork for you. Feel free to right-click on them and save them to your computer, print them out and use them for personal use. If you want to send them to others, please send them the link to this site instead.