Portrait projects for beginners or to break the boredom

Did some generous person in your circle of family and friends gift you a Stitch People book this holiday season? Or are you looking for new ways to flex those stitching skills? Welcome to a year full of hand making! Today on the Stitch People the blog we’ll talk about some projects you can work on if you’re a beginner to Stitch People stitching or if you simply want to break out of a stitching rut.

The Classic


Nothing beats the old tried and true. It’s a new year, is it time for a new family portrait? Maybe the kids have grown, maybe there are new members of the family. We like to make a new classic family portrait at least once every two years as our families grow and change.

Need a little help to get started? Or, do you need a refresher with maybe a few tips and tricks you haven’t tried? We hope you’ll join us for a brand new offering from Stitch People! Our FREE monthly portrait classes! Each month, Lizzy (or a guest presenter) will take you through the A – Z’s of building a Stitch People portrait while we hang-out and talk all things stitch. To join us, you just need to be a member of the Stitch People Community Facebook Group, just one of the benefits of your DIY Stitch People book. For more info and to join in, head to this page!

Let’s get real


Maybe you’ve been making classic Stitch People portraits for a while and you want to try adding a few more stitchy strings to your bow (or strands to your needle hehe). Could this be the year to try out real hair on your Stitch People? We promise, it’s not as hard as it looks. In fact, we have a 5 day tutorial available to all members of the community showing you how to create several styles of real hair! To access these tutorials, you need to be a member of the Stitch People Community Facebook group, available to all purchasers of the DIY Stitch People book!

Bring the outside in


2020 put a real damper on most of our travel plans…jerk. That damper may last for a while, but that won’t stop you dreaming! Use any extra time you have at home and the Stitch People Backgrounds book to create a travel dream board. Stitch up all the places you want to go when traveling is safe again. Turn your stitches into little postcards to yourself as a reminder to never stop dreaming!

New year, new you?


Travel doesn’t have to be the only thing on your wish list this year. Take a page out of our friend Patsy Bemish’s book and create a Stitch People vision board for fun things you hope to do for yourself this year. Dust off the yoga mat!

Doggone sick of people?


We can’t really blame you! People certainly love to test each other’s patience. If you need a little break from humanity, we have just the thing. Our new Forest Animal patterns are just the beginning of our next forage into animal patterns. We’ll also be working on Safari, Sea Creatures, South Pacific and jungle animals!

It’s all about the little things


Last year wasn’t all bad. We hosted Stitch People Day and encouraged all of you to create a little gift for someone you appreciate. Gosh, did you deliver! We saw gifts to mail carriers, grocery baggers, car salesman, friends, family, teachers, carers and more! Gifting to someone you appreciate doesn’t have to stop at Stitch People Day. Why not make a little something for someone in 2021. Tiny portraits work up quick and fit snuggly into a 3 inch hoop, perfect for a cute gift to someone, just because!

Want more ideas?


We’re not going to disappoint this year! We have so, so, soooo much in the works including new events, stitch-a-longs, even more patterns to inspire those creative juices in you. Whether you want to sit back and chill with us, or learn and practice new skills, we’ll be right there with you.

What other kind of portrait projects could we work on this year? Comment below and give us your ideas!

3 thoughts on “Portrait projects for beginners or to break the boredom”

  1. Lou Ann Ashmore

    I have both the Stitch People book and the farm animal book. I clicked on the ad to take the free lesson on the 29th, but it didn’t work. Is that happening?

    Thank you!

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top