Mid-Century Style Cross Stitch Patterns

When I was looking for pattern for my recent post on retro style cross stitch patterns (which you should definitely check out if you missed it because there’s some cute stuff in there!), I came across Etsy seller Mid-Century Maude and decided I needed to do a whole post on these fun retro designs.

Maude focuses on 1950s-style home decor, from kitchy cross stitch to custom wooden signs for your beach house, lake house or cocktail space, and super cute and stylish retro-modern style travel and art posters.

But of course what we’re most interested in here is the cross stitch patterns. As of this writing Maude has more than 20, mostly involving animals like cats, dogs and birds. There are also fun designs for your retro cocktail bar/rumpus room, like this vintage cocktail sampler.

One of my favorites is the teapot pattern, which features three tea kettles in the perfect harvest gold, avocado green and rusty orange to evoke the mid-century era. Add in some atomic-era stars and you’ve got the perfect retro touch for your MCM kitchen or dining room.

Since we’re headed into the holiday season I also wanted to point out this super cute retro reindeer Christmas cross stitch pattern. As shown it was worked on 22 count fabric, so it fits in a 4-inch hoop, but you can use 14 or whatever count fabric you have handy and just know that it will make a corresponding larger design. It is 68 by 65 stitches and looks like about seven colors. It uses full stitches, 3/4 stitches and back stitches.

Need to know about partial cross stitches? Here’s a guide to help you out, with a great little chart showing all the options.

Check out all of Mid-Century Maude’s cross stitch designs and other goodies, and let me know what your favorite is.

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

Cute spooky and fantasy cross stitch patterns is how the designer behind Haunted Frames describes their shop, and I have to agree with them. These designs are cute and Gothic and a little bit spooky all at once. There’s a heavy focus on book themes, which you know I am a fan of, so let’s get into it.

Stopping first in the books section, there are lots of designs that are literally on book shapes, but if you know my love of both books and cats, you’ll know I had to share the Midnight Book Cart cross stitch pattern. As the name suggests it’s a design with a witchy book cart, complete with a spiderweb, bats flying out of a book and what it describes as a ghost cat (though I would have to make a black cat instead of a white one since I have a black cat, and that fits with the vibe).

The design is 65 by 97 stitches and is worked in 17 colors. It’s shown on 16 count fabric, which makes it 4.1 by 6.1 inches, or 10.3 by 15.4 cm.

I also love the winter themed little free library design, which would be perfect to stitch up for the little librarian in your life (or to drop at a neighborhood book space).

Projects with a book theme make up the majority of the patterns that are categorized in this shop, but you’ll want to scroll through all their patterns to see what else is available, since it doesn’t look like everything is in a category. You’ll find castles and dragons, more cats of course, some more obviously Halloween and Christmas themed projects and those that would suit for spooky season or any other time of year.

If cute and dark is your aesthetic, you’ll want to check out all the patterns at www.etsy.com/shop/HauntedFrames, which you can find on Etsy.

[Photo: Haunted Frames]

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