A bit disappointed
Am finding these Artecy patterns strange to follow. Their symbols make no sense and are in no kind of order which takes time to find them as the letter symbols are in no particular order and many shapes are similar making it confusing. Many of similar shape are next to each other instead of having them separated by distinguishable symbols. I like Mystic Stitch patterns for this reason. They use the alphabet then numbers in order which makes it much easier to find when looking for the color matching symbol. The red in this pattern isn't as apple red as I thought and the face is much browner than I feel it should be. I'm not finished with it so hope by the time I do, I won't have this same opinion.

I wish you would state the pattern maker on your pictures. This way, I would be able to order just Mystic Stitch designs. I've been cross stitching for 50 years and have never had pattern symbols quite like these.
Posted by: lois pelow on 03/09/16
Page:
Mystic Stitch has it's own section here. Artecy is one of the leading companies for quality cross stitch patterns and customer service. You are obviously just looking for something to complain about. Read the information available to you on this website. Do you realize you are in a chat room and not ECS customer service?
by: Sunshine on 03/09/16
Hello Lois

I'm not an ECS employee. I am sorry to read that you are disappointed in the Artecy pattern. Your opinion is not wrong -- it is your opinion. I strongly dislike Mystic Stitch patterns for the exact reason that you love it. If offered a choice of two similar patterns one being Mystic Stitch and the other being Artecy I would definitely choose the Artecy pattern.

It might help you if you make an enlarged copy of your pattern. That should make distinguishing the symbols easier to read.

FYI --- Tereena Clarke from Artecy watches this Chat. She usually responds to questions or comments (negative or positive) regarding her patterns. I have never seen a response from anyone at Mystic Stitch.

I hope that you will be happy with your piece once it is finished. I am certain that it will be beautiful.


by: NANCYE G on 03/09/16
Nancye, thanks for taking the initiative to give Lois a civil, well-mannered response. :)

by: VCESS on 03/09/16
I am not picking on you but, as far as I see the pattern maker is ALWAYS listed right below the name of the pattern.

In the future, if you look at the left side of the screen you will see a box with several choices. If you click on "Cross Stitch Patterns" (second one down). you will be taken to another screen. There will be several tabs. Click on the one that says designer. You will then be able to choose Mystic Stitch and see all of the all of the available patterns by that designer.

Hope this helps

by: NANCYE G on 03/09/16
Lois, Well, I will respectfully "disagree" with you. You need to slow down my friend. If you click on the picture of this design.....Under the name of the design in about a size 18 font it says: by Artecy Cross Stitch so there is no "hiding" of the designers for these products sold at ECS. I have worked various Artecy designs with no complaints. We are not all made from the same mold. What is that old saying? "One's man's curse is another man's pleasure".
by: jerseycrafter on 03/09/16
Hi lois pelow,

This is our design. Thanks so much for the feedback and thanks to all of you who responded, we really appreciate your support.

Our patterns use standard symbols that alot of cross stitch companies use such as HAED and Kustom Krafts etc so alot of customers who stitch these larger designs would be used to working with these symbols. There is a mix of letters, numbers and darker symbols. etc. Personally I find having a mix of dark and light symbols helps to break up the design a bit, I do not like all letters and numbers in my patterns. It really comes down to personal preference. In 16 years this is only the second enquiry we have received regarding the font used and the other customer was used to Mystic Stitch designs too. I think if we changed our designs over to that font we would receive more complaints from customers.

Unfortunately we cannot offer many different versions through our retailers to cater for individual tastes. Some customers like coloured patterns, some don't. Some like larger symbols with more pages, some don't. etc To help customers we have a free service for customers that purchase our downloadable patterns that if they would prefer patterns with larger symbols or coloured patterns we are able to email an adjusted working copy through. It is rarely requested but the option is there for our customers if needed. For the other customer I offered to convert her pattern into a straight letter and number font like Mystic Stitch and I would be happy to do this for you as well if you would like,
if you have access to a printer and would like to print the working copy yourself.

If this is something you would be interested in you can email me at artecy@artecy.com we just need to see proof of payment for your original printed pattern, so if you can email a receipt through along with your request please. As you are already into stitching the design, this may be confusing for you to change now, but the option is also available for any future Artecy patterns you may purchase.

Alternatively feel free to make a working photocopy for yourself, you can enlarge symbols if needed as they are small on this pattern, and it may help to use highlighters on the pattern to mark stitches you have done or going to do next. I use a yellow highlighter on the pattern to mark the stitches of one colour I am going to stitch on a page and then after I complete those stitches I uses a blue highlighter to go over the yellow ones stitched and then I know I have completed them. Then I move onto the next symbol and colour. Just using highlighters seems to help break up all the symbols and make them easier to see.

We certainly have improved our patterns over the past 16 years from customer feedback so we appreciate it. We try not to use similar symbols together in any patterns now.

In regards to the colours in the pattern, we are confident that once the pattern is stitched in full the colours will make sense and will compliment each other. We have not received a completed picture of this design as yet, however a customer has reviewed this pattern on our website and said he is a pretty as the picture.

Also as previously mentioned Everything Cross Stitch do say the designers name of this pattern and if you prefer Mystic Stitch designs you are able to browse by designer and select Mystic Stitch and all their patterns are there in the one area for you.

I hope this information helps, please let me know if you have any further queries.

Thanks and Best Wishes
Tereena Clarke
Artecy Cross Stitch
by: artecy on 03/09/16
Tereena, you are a gem! :)
by: VCESS on 03/09/16
Artecy is always right here when she is needed. Do we ever hear from Mysitic sitch on this site? Heaven and Earth? Certainly not Dimensions!
by: NANCYE G on 03/10/16
I love Mystic Stitch patterns. If a pattern I like says Mystic Stitch it goes on my wish list until I order it. They are very major projects but that is what I like.

I also have purchased several Artecy kits and have liked every one of them. One of the few brand kits I will purchase. They are easy to follow and have never run out of floss for them. Keep up the good work Treena.
by: syagel on 03/10/16
Thank you everyone, that's so nice. I don't think it is common for Designers to speak in chat areas on retailers websites but we offer alot of patterns through ECS and I could see a few questions coming up about our patterns so I confirmed with ECS to see if it would be fine for me to answer them just so everyone has the correct information. I'm very happy to help wherever I can.

I have heard good things about how Mystic Stitch patterns look when completed.

Syagel thanks so much, so glad you have liked our designs you have completed. We cannot take credit though for not running out of floss. We only sell cross stitch charts, not complete kits. ECS and some of our other retailers sell the floss and fabric along with our designs, so they use our floss usage page in our patterns and are calculating how much floss is needed. Sounds like they are doing a great job, so that is good to know.

We do sell some Artecy designs as complete kits through Kustom Krafts as well, they make up the kits and they are a beautiful quality.

Have a great day everyone :)

Best Wishes
Tereena
Artecy Cross Stitch
by: artecy on 03/10/16