Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Christmas Word Art Cross Stitch Patterns

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Words add a great graphic element to any cross stitch design, but it can also be fun when the words take center stage in a project, as they do in these word art Christmas cross stitch patterns.

I love these little designs that combine words and smaller images from Durene J Cross Stitch on Etsy. They’re so fun and cheerful and include Santa, a reindeer, a snowman and little birds, as well as holiday gifts and holly. You could stitch up each one individually as shown (each one is 45 by 45 stitches) or you could put all of them together into a cute little holiday sampler.

The Merry Christmas script Christmas tree pattern from Etsy seller Cross Stitch Foxy looks like it would be a lot of fun to stitch and be dramatic on display in your home. It is 138 by 141 stitches, or 9.8 by 10 inches on 14 count fabric, and uses four colors. It’s shown on a white background but I think this one would be stunning on dark blue or black fabric as well. You could even use a metallic thread for the parts that are stitched in gold.

Owl Stitching House on Etsy has a cute Merry Christmas design that adds sampler elements to the mix, with the letters being stitched in a few different ways (I love that the I in Christmas is a candle!) and a scene with Santa, a reindeer and a snowman in the middle. (If this one looks familiar to you that’s because I also shared one of their samplers in my roundup of Christmas samplers the other day.)

Then there’s this fun Christmas cross stitch from Etsy seller Nia Cross Stitch, which uses a snowman as the I and includes a little bird, candle, angel, stocking, mittens and more surrounding the letters. The stitching area is 158 by 49 stitches, and the sample is shown on ice blue fabric, which adds a subtle bit of color that elevates the project.

Christmas Sampler Cross Stitch Patterns

Mini Christmas Cross Stitch Patterns

Have you read?

How to Add Text to a Cross Stitch Project

One of the easiest ways to make a cross stitch project more personal is to add text to it. Whether you’re adding the names of people getting married to a generic floral cross stitch design, birth information to a project on theme with the new baby’s room or just adding a word or phrase that’s meaningful to you, adding words to cross stitch projects make them that much more special. 

But if you’re not working with a project that already has text built in, or you want to change the text that’s there, that can feel a little daunting. 

Caterpillar Cross Stitch has a great guide to adding names and words (as well as numbers) to projects, which talks you through what to consider and how to actually go about adding text to a cross stitch project successfully. 

You’ll need to think about what kind of font you want to use and if you’re using back stitched letters or larger filled letters, how much space you need and how the letters work together in the text you’re planning to make sure it’s readable. 

Their post includes common pitfalls such as running out a space or ending up with text that’s off center and how to avoid them (spoiler: chart out your text before you stitch!). 

The whole post is really helpful if you’ve never added lettering to a project before and don’t know where to start. I like to use block letters in back stitch when learning how to add text to cross stitch, but of course there are tons of lettering options. Check out this collection of cross stitch fonts if you want to see some different things you can try. 

And head over to Caterpillar Cross Stitch to get more tips for how to successfully add lettering to your cross stitch projects. They also have their own alphabet and number charts you can buy to add text to your stitching. 

Have you ever added text to a cross stitch project? I’d love to hear how it went!

[Photo: Caterpillar Cross Stitch]