Real Witch Cross Stitch Patterns

Halloween is all about spooky stories and dressing up as characters like witches, but the history of witchcraft has a real lineage that comes down from Salem and even further back that also should be acknowledged. Whether you consider yourself a witch or just want to give a more historic slant to your Halloween decorations, check out these great cross stitch patterns inspired by real witches.

First up is this design from Little Stitcher Shop about historic witches and their familiars. The designer notes that these women — Alice Kyteler, Alice Nutter, Isobel Gowdie and Martha Carrier — were accused of witchcraft in different countries and times, and most of them were killed for it. The familiars shown were either actually associated with them or an animal that might have been linked to them at the time and place they lived.

Speaking of historic witches, Night Spirit Studio has a series of patterns inspired by woodcuts of witches and demons from a book published in 1720. This one is “The Devil’s Flight,” which shows a demon and witches marauding in the night. This pattern uses a single color and measures 136 by 107 stitches. It comes out to 9.7 by 7.6 inches, or 24.7 by 19.4 cm, on 14 count fabric.

The witches sampler from Contrary Peri brings a classic look to a more modern project. This one is also a single color project, and the designer recommends using 18 count fabric, which will come out to 9 by 11 inches, 22.8 by almost 28 cm. It measures 162 by 198 stitches.

Giving house rules a witchy twist, there’s this wisdom of a witch pattern from The Crafty Grimalkin. It includes good advice for witches and others, like love the earth and follow the phases of the moon, and is decorated with familiar animals and pumpkins. If I’m reading the notes properly it uses eight colors. It measures 156 by 208 stitches and the designer recommends 32 count linen for stitching.

I was recently approached by Alyssa, the cross stitcher behind the Etsy shop Stitchonomy, to take a look at her cross stitch pattern subscription club, known as The Pattern Club.

I took a look around and there’s a lot of cute stuff and fun options you’ll want to check out, especially if you love themed patterns that are small, easy to stitch and fun to combine.

The Pattern Club combines cross stitching with a social network. When you open the site you’ll see a news feed and have the ability to share updates much like you would on Facebook. You can see who is online, have buddies and post your own updates and photos. The community aspect is a little sparse right now but that should only grow.

The stitch along hub is the place to find the most recent patterns and information on the current stitchalong. As of this writing the Book Lover’s stitchalong was happening, with little designs like Peter Rabbit, a skull for Hamlet and keys for Jane Eyre as well as authors including Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Other pattern collections include European designs, Halloween, ocean life, an allotment garden and more. Alyssa tells me there’s a new theme every month that either she picks or members in the community suggest. You can stitch just the patterns you want or put them together to make a larger collage.

The Stitchanomini vault gives you access to all of the previous patterns, and new patterns are released daily through the stitchalong. You can download individual patterns (most of them are 19 by 19 stitches) as PDFs or Pattern Keeper files. The PDFs include a color and black and white chart as well as a floss list.

Another cool thing you can do is build your own pattern collages from all of the squares that have been released. The collage configurator allows you to add patterns of your choosing to a grid ranging from 2×2 patterns up to 4×4. You can scroll through all the current patterns or search by theme and size to make a project that suits your needs. (Above is an example I made kind of at random but you get the idea.)

If you want to check it out, you can grab a three-day free trial and see all the pattern options. Membership is $7.99 a month, or if you pay for a year at a time you’ll get two months free. In addition to the patterns in the club, members receive discounts on patterns and supplies purchased through the shop within the club. Annual members get access to three paid/retired stitchalongs and lifetime members receive all retired patterns.

If you check it out I’d love to hear what you think!

Have you read?