Arthur-Inspired Cross Stitch Patterns

My daughter loved the TV show Arthur when she was growing up, and the other day I came across what I assume is an Arthur-inspired cross stitch pattern that sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole looking for more.

Someday I may have to design a “having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card” bookmark pattern, but for now here are a few Arthur cross-stitch patterns I found.

It all started with this “funny elk with guitar” pattern from Smart Cross Stitch. I assume it’s supposed to be George if he traded his ventriloquist puppet for an axe. The pattern is designed by Nadezhda Mashtakova and is 87 by 113 stitches. It uses full and half stitches as well as a backstitch and has 23 colors. The pattern is free.

From there I found a couple of patterns on Etsy that are more directly about the Arthur television show.

Of course there would have to be Arthur’s clenched fist, which became a meme way back in 2016 but I still see it every now and then. (I never knew the image came from an episode in which he actually hits D.W. for breaking his toy airplane.) The cross-stitch version is from Hot Cross Puns Studio, uses six colors and measures about 7.1 by 4.7 inches when stitched on 14-count fabric.

And speaking of D.W., I also found a cross stitch pattern memorializing when D.W. ate a green potato chip. The pattern is from Dot Dot Dot Stitches, and comes to 5.4 by 5.6 inches on 14 count fabric. I think it’s about eight colors but the pattern information on Etsy doesn’t actually say.

Are you a fan of Arthur? If so, what scene or quote would you like to see made into a cross stitch pattern? Or if you know of other Arthur-inspired cross stitch patterns, I’d love to see them!

I was recently doing a scroll through some crafting websites that I follow and I came across this amazing collection of cross stitch job patterns from Koekoek. It includes more than 100 different jobs, sports and hobbies, and these would be so much fun to personalize and stitch up for friends, family and co-workers.

You’ll find everything from occupations like doctor, fireman, maternity nurse, tax lawyer and librarian to sports like swimming, fishing and beach volleyball.

There’s pattern for watching marathon amounts of Netflix, doing triathlons (basically the same thing, right?), teaching geography, graphic design and catching Pokemon. Among many others.

The designs are categorized by medical professions, office jobs, stitch a sport (which includes other hobbies) and education professions, or you can just scroll through all the patterns to see the variety. Check out all the designs on their website, or scroll down on this page to see them in categories and with more details.

They suggest working these with a five inch hoop using 14 count cross stitch fabric or 28 count evenweave stitched over two threads for a fancier look. The number of colors needed for each design varies, but they are pretty small projects so there’s generally not a ton of detail.

The patterns also include text for what the image is showing like “the knitter” or “the veterinarian,” but they also have a post about how to personalize the designs with different text such as the person’s name, a date or a quote. There’s also a full bask stitch alphabet included in the post so you can chart out your own text.

And while the designs show specific people, you can change up details like hair color, clothing color and eye color if you want to make it look more like the person you intend to give it to. You can also purchase custom cross stitch kits from them to make the project exactly the way you want it without having to do the work yourself.

I think this is such a fun idea for a graduation gift or a holiday gift. If you check it out I’d love to know which characters you are stitching!

[Photo: Koekoek]

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