Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Haunted House Pincushion Cross Stitch Pattern

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I told myself I was done sharing Halloween cross stitch patterns, because I wanted to give you all plenty of time to finish them before it’s actually time.

But.

Then I saw this amazing 3D haunted house pincushion cross stitch pattern and I knew I just had to share it. There was no way it could wait until next year. It was all I could do not to buy the pattern immediately and start working on it before I told you all about it.

Designed by Living on the Rainbow, this little house measures about 7 centimeters (or just under 3 inches) when finished as shown, worked on 16-count fabric. But there are a lot of details packed into that tiny package, and along with the assembly required the designer suggested this pattern for experienced stitchers.

The full pattern is 23 pages long and includes detailed instructions for assembly.

You can get this pattern on Etsy, and while you are there check out all of their amazing designs. For Halloween you will find 3D spell books to stitch, a jack o’lantern/scarecrow, ghost, potion bottle and more traditional designs featuring ghosts going about their business of knitting, cross stitching, taking care of their plants and, of course, haunting the library (how else are we going to finish our TBR piles?)

There are also great designs for other holidays and themes (mostly Christmas but there are also some cute Alice in Wonderland patterns that are sort of Halloween adjacent), and they’re all just so much fun I need to stop talking so you’ll go check them out.

If you’re looking for more fun Halloween cross stitch designs, check out these posts:

[Photo: Living on the Rainbow]

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]