As I gear up for Extra Life 2013, I’ve been going through some of the video game and pop culture patterns I’ve found all over the internet in an attempt to stitch a few as samples I can use to manipulate (read: politely urge) my friends and family to give slightly higher donations this year in exchange for some awesome new home decor. Knowing how popular Final Fantasy VII is (not my personal fave, that would be FFIX), I dug out the patterns I found on Gatchastitch and figured what the hell.

I began outlining each character in black, doing Yuffie and Tifa first, mostly to determine how much space I had left on the fabric remnant I was using but also because I really am not a huge fan of Aerith (*ducks to avoid flying objects*). I’d previously completed Vivi from Final Fantasy IX who had been done in the same style but the same creator and outlining these sorts of patterns then filling them with colour makes me believe I am a kid again, scribbling inside the lines with my thread and bringing characters to life.

I did have some difficulties with Aerith and the metallic floss used for the string tying her shrug together. French knots are a big enough pain in my butt already, but trying to make them with metallic thread is a train wreck. The thread kept breaking or snagging or knotting where I didn’t want it to knot. Eventually I gave up and just did some backstitching to make it look tied as best as I could.

Many thanks to Gatchastitch for sharing these patterns for free. I’m hoping one day they might add Red XIII or Cait Sith to the collection as those are two FF VII characters I really did enjoy.