Ghost Cross Stitch Patterns

I’m spending a lot of time this month sharing different genres of fall and Halloween cross stitch patterns, because it doesn’t have to be all pumpkins all the time (but we do love pumpkins and will be getting to them soon, too).

Today it’s ghost cross stitch patterns, which are mostly more cute than creepy and are perfect for decor, stitched Halloween cards, or even stitching onto a shirt or a skirt to be your “Halloween costume.”

The first one that caught my eye was this little library ghost, because, let’s be honest, if I got to be a ghost I’d want to haunt a library so I could keep reading. This design is by Living on the Rainbow on Etsy, and it’s 31 by 33 stitches. The photo shows it on black fabric in a 3-inch hoop worked on 18-count fabric (if you use 14 count it will be a little snug in a 3-inch hoop).

Speaking of books, Cute Patterns by Maria on Etsy has a collection of ghosts doing ghost stuff, one of which includes books. There’s also a few in witch hats, hanging with their spooky friends, making a potion and more. They’re so cute stitched all together but you can also break them down into individual designs if you don’t want to stitch them all.

This ghost cross stitch pattern from Yarnspirations reminds me of a sheet ghost, which I just think is so cute! It’s a free pattern that uses three colors and plenty of back stitching to outline the ghost (or stitch it on dark fabric).

This sweet little flower ghost with a pumpkin is just so cute I would want to be its friend! The design is from Etsy seller White Protea Art and is 66 by 65 stitches, or 4.7 by 4.6 inches on 14-count fabric.

And Mama Witch Cross Stitch on Etsy wants you to adopt an adorable ghost with her little cross stitch pattern. This one is quick to stitch at just 33 by 45 stitches, though it does use seven colors in that little space. It comes out to 2.36 by 3.21 inches on 14-count fabric.

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]

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