pattern // finding nemo cross stitch

If you love Finding Nemo and cross stitch, you've found the right place. Because today I'm sharing something a little different and also very much who I am and what I love. Disney, crafting, and free patterns are very much my vibe.

I'll start by saying the pattern I have for you is kinda big. As in, there are about 12,000 stitches. It makes a design that is a little over 14 inches wide by 4 inches high when stitched on 14-count fabric. That's sort of a weird size, yes, but that's because this wasn't originally a cross stitch pattern.

Back in the spring, I had this idea for making a giant mural that lots of people could work on together. It would feature Finding Nemo characters because the disability ministry at my church would be presenting Finding Nemo Jr. It needed to not be messy (no paint!) and it also needed to be a size and shape that would allow for lots of people working at one time.



I was inspired by the murals they have at EPCOT during their Festival of the Arts, because they work on a paint-by-number grid of sorts. Which I saw and thought "I can do that because it's like a cross stitch pattern!" Instead of paint or stitches, I opted for squares of colored cardstock.

So it started out looking like this.

And while I was confident it would work, I really had no way of knowing for sure until it was in progress and eventually finished. In fact, shortly after it got started I found a few mistakes in how I set it up to print. Thankfully, I could fix them.

But the real magic for me was watching people work alongside each other. Most had never met, but they chatted and worked together. Sometimes adding a single square, and sometimes working for a long time to fill in an entire area. Take a look:







Even a therapy dog paw-sed to help! And I think people had a good time doing this. I know that I did!



When the weekend of the musical production was over, we had to move the mural (which, by the way, measures 16 feet long and 5 feet high). It's still hanging out and looks pretty good, but soon it will end up in the trash. But I knew that it could live on as a cross stitch pattern.

There's pretty much zero chance that I'll be stitching this any time soon. Maybe someday though, because it was so special for me to work on this project. In the meantime, you can visualize what the finished cross stitch version will look like by taking in the finished mural:



Slight changes have been made to the pattern, such as using symbols instead of the numbers for the mural. I also added in one color and updated the colors to what I think will be better for DMC floss shades.



I don't have estimates for how much floss you'll need, but I can tell you that it's a lot of DMC 958 for the background!

Now, how about that pattern! It's shown on one page so you can see it all together, but the real chart is spread out over six pages so you can actually read it.

DOWNLOAD THE FINDING NEMO CROSS STITCH PATTERN

This is, as I said, a bigger pattern that I typically design, but it was too fun not to share. It would make my crafty Disney heart swell to see folks stitch it up, so be sure to tag me or email me so I can see photos if you do!