West Wing Cast Stitch People – Behind the Stitches

• February 3, 2021
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I am a huge fan of the show, West Wing. After years of rewatching the show over and over again I finally decided to make a Stitch People Portrait of the cast.

I started with a general sketch of the stitch based on patterns built from the Stitch People Book. Since the show was on for so long I decided to focus on a real life photo of the cast, see below, to hopefully get as many details correct as I could. I use Numbers (Apple’s version of Excel) to digitally sketch out these portraits before I start stitching.

Almost as soon as I started sketching out the design I realized that I wouldn’t be able to stitch on white aida, so I went into my stash and decided on 18 ct oatmeal to give some contrast between the white shirts and the aida. Once I started stitching I decided to group the portraits closer together rather than have them evenly spaced apart. I think this gives a more realistic look to the portrait.

Rather than stitching the entire background as a huge flag I decided to just stitch a long flag that would span over most of the people in the stitch. I used the flag from another pattern in my stash, Perserving Liberty by Waxing Moon Designs. Instead of stitch one large star I simply grided the blue area in hopes to make the flag look a bit more realistic. I also added one of my favorite phrases from the show. “What’s Next?” For the text I used John Doe from Stitch People.

Here is the stitch round up:

• Pattern: 
  • Stitch People 
  • Letters: https://stitchpeople.com/collections/alphabet-patterns/products/john-doe-alphabet
• Cloth: Aida 18 Ct Oatmeal
• Finishing details:
  • Oval Embroidery Hoop