Cross Stitch Pattern for Mother of Exiles

Please go to PINK TANK to read the corresponding article titled Mothers of Exiles: For Many, the Child-Separation Ordeal May Never End.

Finished work

Material:

• 22 3/4 inches x 11 1/4 inches 14-count Aida cross stitch fabric
• tapestry needle size 24
• six-strand DMC 100% cotton Embroidery Floss #919, #500 (two skeins), #501 (two skeins), #502, #503, #504, #725, #728, #729. You will use only two of the six strands of thread for the embroidery.
• small embroidery scissors

Please click on: Mother of Exiles for a pdf of the embroidery pattern.

Instructions:

Starting at top left hand corner of fabric, using DMC floss #919, leaving 10 count (squares) from the left and 10 from the top, start embroidering The New Colossus’ matter, beginning with elipses.

Below is a detail from the pattern. In the pattern you will notice that some cross stitches are half one color and half another. When doing that, I will usually place the lighter color on top of the darker color. It does get a little tedious to do the half-half stitches. If you’d like you can just go ahead and do the stitch in one or the other color. 

Grey color in the patten detail represents DMC floss #500; orange color #501; green color #502; pink color #503; & yellow color #504. The distance between two vertical red lines is 10 count.

 

I used DMC 100% cotton embroidery floss colors #500, #501, #502, #503 & #504 to capture the colors of The Statue of Liberty

 

Along the edge of the image (as seen in the shoes below), some stitches are only half cross stitch, going in one direction or the other to create more of a curve.

Detail showing half cross stitches along the edges of pattern

 

The light blue color used for the hands (see pattern detail below) represents floss #728, dark blue color #729 & light purple color #725

 

Pattern detail of hands embodying the torch & the invisible lightning