Only Murders in the Building Cross Stitch Patterns

I don’t know why it sometimes still surprises me when I go to look for cross stitch patterns from a particular fandom and end up finding them. I should know by now that there are cross stitch designers who are fans of just about everything out there.

It certainly shouldn’t surprise me that cross stitch and true crime intersect, so it makes sense there would be “Only Murders in the Building” cross stitch patterns. I’m writing this in the midst of season four, so no spoilers, but here are a few fun projects to stitch while you watch (or at least listen to!) the show.

This one from Stitchy AF reminds me of the show’s opening, with shadowy figures of Charles, Mabel and Oliver walking up the stairs against a colorful background of skyscrapers. There’s a little bit of backstitch on Charles’ hat and the building windows, but it’s a pretty easy stitch that’s 70 by 76 stitches, or 3.9 by 4.2 inches (about 10 by 10.6 cm) on 18 count fabric. This one looks great on black fabric or whatever dark color you have handy.

Three Unlikely Detectives features some iconic outfits from the show and was designed by Knotty Bytes. The design uses 16 colors but you can sub in some from your stash if you don’t mind changing up the colors a bit. The design is 80 by 60, or 5.7 by 4.3 inches (14.5 by 11 cm) on 14 count fabric.

Darc Threads has another really cute (if a project with knives and knitting needles dripping blood can be said to be cute, anyway) Only Murders project, with our three heroes in classic outfits but without facial features other than Charles’ glasses and Mabel’s lips. They’re surrounded by little backstitch icons of important items from the show. This project uses 16 colors and is 61 by 64 stitches. On 14 count fabric that comes out to 11. by 11.6 cm, or 4.4 by 4.6 inches.

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

A while back I made a little rainbow cross stitch pattern and I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with it, so I turned it into a patch. My idea was that it could be used on a jacket or backpack, or you could add a pin to the back and wear it temporarily on a shirt or elsewhere.

But what if you want to make your design more permanent? Is it possible to turn a piece of cross stitch into an iron-on design?

It turns out yes, it is, and Sirious Stitches has done it so I didn’t have to try to figure it out on my own.

The way they did it was by using HeatnBond, an iron-on adhesive that attaches fabrics without sewing. There was still sewing involved to finish the edges of the cross stitch fabric and make it look like a purchased patch. The post shows how to do this by hand or with your sewing machine. (I just did blanket stitch edging on mine, which doesn’t look like a “real” patch but is also a lot faster.)

Once you have the patch prepared it’s a pretty easy matter of using the fusible adhesive to the back of the patch so you can then iron it onto whatever jacket, pair of jeans, bag or whatever else you might want to add it to.

I guess I’m a little paranoid about the washability of cross stitch projects, though you could hand wash anything with an iron-on cross stitch patch as you might need to with a purchased iron-on patch, anyway. But this does look really cool and is a great option if you know you want to permanently add a cross stitch patch to a garment of bag.

Get the full tutorial over at Sirious Stitches. Would you add an iron-on cross stitch patch to something? I’d love to hear what you would use this technique for!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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