Back to School Cross Stitch Patterns

Back to school time is right around the corner where I live as I write this, and school-themed cross stitch patterns are super cute to make as a teacher gift or to personalize something like a pencil bag or backpack tag.

This school supply cross stitch design from 7StitchesTN is meant to be horizontal, but I think you could turn the letters the other direction (or not) and make this into a bookmark. It can also be repeated to make a border around a project. As shown it is 64 by 30 stitches, which is 6.7 by 2.1 inches/17.1 by 5.4 cm on 14 count fabric. It uses 15 colors.

Italia Print has a little set of school themed cross stitch patterns you can make as a single design as shown, or use individual patterns on different projects. The full design is 76 by 66 stitches, which is about 5.4 by 4.7 inches, or 13.8 by 12 cm, and it uses 18 colors.

Speaking of designs that can be worked separately, there’s also this pattern from Bella Rose Craft, which could easily be divided into its different parts or you could use some of the pieces as a border on another project. The full design is shown in a 4-inch hoop and measures 2.71 by 2.64 inches/6.8 by 6.7 cm on 14 count fabric.

This lovely set of teacher themed cross stitch patterns would be lovely to make as a teacher gift at the beginning or end of the year or for the holidays. From The Stitch Patterns, it is a set of five designs that includes books, flowers blooming from a book, a tulip, pencil cup and pencil drawing a heart. Each one is about 7 inches/17.78 cm square.

This cute class in session design from Plaid Online would be another cute one to make for a teacher. It uses seven colors (including black for the back stitching on the ruler) and is about 2 inches/5.08 cm square.

And Craft with Cartwright has this funny and cute worm and apples design that would be cute for back to school. It uses seven colors and is 78 by 52 stitches, or 5.5 by 3.7 inches/14.15 by 9.43 cm on 14 count fabric. The apples by themselves would be cute on a project, too.

I’ve done embroidery on paper before and it’s a lot of fun. You can use a needle to punch out a particular shape to stitch, or my favorite thing is to take a copy of an old photograph or a page from a magazine and add stitched details to the original picture.

One thing I haven’t tried but would also be fun to do is cross stitching on paper.

This is a technique that requires a fair amount of preparation because you need to find a pattern you can easily transfer and print it at actual size, then use the pattern itself to help you decide where to put the holes in your paper. And then after all that you can do your stitching.

It’s a pretty straightforward process, but Crewel Ghoul has a great tutorial that walks you through how to do it step by step. It even includes a sample pattern you can print out and try for practice.

The post also has tips for starting and finishing your threads so that the back looks as neat as it can, if that’s something that’s important to you. (When I have done embroidery on paper I usually just tape the thread end to the back. If the back were going to show I’d probably just cover it with more paper.)

Stitching on paper is a fun way to make bookmarks or greeting cards, but you also need to make sure your paper is thick enough to support the holes you’ll be making in it. This post has a good rundown of materials you’ll need and what kind of paper is best. She used watercolor paper but I’ve used card stock and scrapbook paper that was a little thicker than the average printer paper.

You can always test a little on the paper you’re considering to make sure it will stand up to the project.

Check out the post, which includes a video, over at Crewel Ghoul for more tips for cross stitching on paper. Is this something you’ve tried before? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Crewel Ghoul]

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