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.

Long ago when I was in 4-H, the club made a quilt for our leader when she was having a baby. It was made of green and white blocks and some of the white blocks had four-leaf clovers cross stitched on them.

That’s the one and only time I remember using waste canvas to cross stitch on fabric, but I think about it a lot when I consider stitching on other fabrics that don’t have built in blocks.

Using waste canvas allows you to superimpose a grid onto fabric so you can follow a cross stitch pattern and stitch on the fabric, then remove the waste fabric, leaving just the original fabric and the stitching behind.

It’s relatively easy to use, but it’s great to have a tutorial and some tips to work from the first time you do it. I think we were just winging it honestly but it turned out fine in the end.

There’s a great post with lots of photos over at Koekoek that shows you how to set yourself up for waste canvas stitching success, how to actually do the stitching and how to remove the waste canvas. They call that part fun but I don’t agree as far as I can remember. I think the tediousness of pulling out the waste canvas threads is a big part of what has kept me from getting more and using it in different projects.

I’d love to add a bit of cross stitch to some clothing, or to a piece of fabric to then sew into a pillow or another project. (They show a pillow in the blog post, but you could also do this to make cloth napkins, a tablecloth or any number of other projects.) Maybe reading all about it will motivate me to give it another try!

Have you ever worked with waste canvas? I’d love to know how it went.

[Photo: Koekoek]

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