#CROSS STITCH PATTERNS MANUAL#

'I've spent thousands of hours digitalizing motifs stich by stitch,' she said, adding that this makes them printable for manual cross-stitching and downloadable for machine embroidery. Since none of the existing digitization software options were accurate enough to decipher the stitches automatically, Masri started to break down motifs manually on digital grids. Only, creating such a database turned out to be much more time-consuming than expected. Typical examples are palm trees, jagged patterns in different colours or patterns that resemble tiles on the Noble Sanctuary or Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem. 'There should be a place for digitalized, printable and freely available patterns as this is cultural heritage,' Masri thought and wondered why she should be waiting for someone to launch such a database.Īnd so, some 24 years after her grandmother introduced her to Tatreez, which is the Arabic term for this traditional type of Middle Eastern needle work, Masri started Tirazain, the first digital embroidery database of traditional Palestinian cross-stitching patterns including the information on their origin and aesthetic features. Masri quickly realized, however, that a shortage of high-resolution patterns was one of the main challenges for the global embroidery community. 'I joined online embroidery communities for inspiration while spending lots of time at home,' she said.

Masri, who works in marketing in Dubai, reconnected with her family tradition of cross-stitching Palestinian patterns during the pandemic. 'For years, it remained my favorite holiday activity at my grandmother's place in Jordan,' the 31-year-old told DW.

Zain Masri still remembers the vibrant feeling of completing her first cross-stitched motif at the age of 7.

Cross stitch patterns