Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Christmas Stocking Cross Stitch Patterns

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Everyone in my family has a knit Christmas stocking, so it would never occur to me to cross stitch a stocking, but it’s possible (albeit a lot of work!) and would definitely be an heirloom piece for anyone you make one for.

There are so many options out there you can make one to suit anyone’s style or favorite things. I’ve gathered a few patterns from Etsy to get you started but it’s easy to search and find Christmas stocking cross stitch patterns with just about any theme you can think of.

Let’s start with some Santa patterns. Cross Stitch Kits Ala has a gorgeous Santa wearing a while cloak and surrounded by white animals. Or go the opposite direction with tons of color on the Santa cross stitch stocking from Zanna Cross Stitch. On this one Santa is checking his list in front of a house with elves and gifts all around.

If you’re looking for something with a religious theme, this personalized stocking has a manger scene at the top, as well as flowers, trees, ornaments, reindeer and candy canes. The design is from Happinesst.

This vintage style snowman cross stitch stocking pattern has space for a name at the top and comes with a full alphabet. I love all the animals gathered around. You can get this pattern from Sampler Antique Stitch.

If I were going to make a cross stitch stocking I would find it hard to resist this retro deer design from Satsuma Street. The ornaments in the antlers are so cute, and you can make them whatever colors you want to suit your decor. I also love it on the black cross stitch fabric because it’s unexpected for the holiday season but really striking and fun.

Looking for even more patterns? White Raven Patterns has two sets of 15 designs you can buy as a set. The first one includes trees, retro cars, animals, Santas, gingerbread men and more, while the second includes ornaments, nutcrackers, some very cozy looking critters and more. 

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Do You Park Your Cross Stitch Thread? Try The Royal Roads Method

I have not done a lot of big cross stitch projects, but sometimes even with small projects it can be hard to decide exactly where to begin and how to work through the chart if you’re working with multiple colors. The general categories for the possible methods are known as cross country and parking. 

Cross country means that you’re working one color at a time, moving around the chart (or the section of the chart you’re working on) until you’re done with that color. Parking means you’re working in a smaller section and doing all the colors in that area, “parking” the threads by leaving them attached to the canvas but out of the way while you finish each section. 

Royal Rows is a specific way of parking named by Alison Royal, which is explored in detail on a post on Stitching Daily. 

The idea is that you’re working one “tower” of stitches at a time (she uses a section of 10 stitches across by 20 down, but you can do whatever makes sense to you). You work all the stitches of a color at a time, starting at the top left and working your way down. When you’re done with a color you can park it where needed in the section below your current tower (known as the dungeon) or in the “east tower,” which is the section to the right. 

There’s also a specific way of dealing with thread ends when you’re done with a color. This is a super simplified version (head to the blog post at Stitching Daily to get all the details) but the basic idea is that you’re working from left to right and top to bottom across the work, parking the threads in the next section when you’re done with them and systematically choosing which color to work with next. 

The whole idea of parking is kind of overwhelming to me though I will admit that it makes a lot of sense. I guess I need to try it on a smallish big project and see how it goes. Do you use the parking method of cross stitch? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Stitching Daily]