Diamond Painting and the Backstitch Frustration 

Diamond Painting and the Backstitch Frustration 

So, you’ve fallen in love with diamond painting, and now you’re thinking about trying it with some of your favorite cross stitch patterns. Great idea! With the thousands of cross stitch patterns available, you’ll never run out of designs to try. But before you dive in, let’s go over a few things to keep in mind when choosing the perfect pattern for diamond painting. 

1. Will the pattern fit? 

Before you get too attached to a design, make sure it fits! In cross stitch, everything comes down to counting grids, and the same goes for diamond painting. Check how many grids (or stitches) the pattern has and compare it to your diamond painting canvas or tiles/slates. If the number of grids matches or is fewer than what you’ve got to work with, you’re golden! If it’s too big, you’ll either have to resize or move on to another pattern. 

This is a 110 x 50 slate, which means you can have 110 stitches in one direction and 50 in another.  

2. Watch out for backstitching! 

In cross stitch, backstitching adds outlines or small details to the design, like the smile on a snowman’s face or the stem of a flower. These details are created using a single thread of floss, which makes them super fine and precise. Unfortunately, backstitching doesn’t translate well to diamond painting because you’re working with drills (those little gems), not thread. If the pattern relies heavily on backstitching to bring it to life, you might want to consider another design that won’t lose its charm when the backstitching is left out. 

3. Avoid ½ and ¼ stitches, fancy embroidery stitches, or knots 

Cross stitch is full of little tricks to add texture and detail to your work, like ½ and ¼ stitches, embroidery stitches, or knots. These are awesome in traditional cross stitch but can’t be recreated with diamond painting drills. Full drills are your only option, so if the pattern has a lot of those fancier stitches, it might not translate well. That said, if you’re confident you can tweak the design to make it work with full drills, give it a go! Otherwise, keep hunting for a pattern that’s a better fit. 

Example of backstitching and half-stiches. If you can’t work around it you may want to move on. 

The bottom line? Your perfect diamond painting pattern is out there—you just need to keep these tips in mind as you search! 

4o