Cross-Stitch

Charts, patterns and everything needlepoint

Santa Cross Stitch Patterns

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‘Tis the season for holiday crafting, and a classic Christmas cross stitch theme is cross stitched Santas. These sweet designs are great to use as home decor or give to a friend who collects Santa things.

The Enchanting Christmas design from Love Crafts is a fun take on a retro Santa decorating a funky Christmas tree. The pattern uses 13 colors and is rated easy. It’s a free download from Anchor.

Another version of Santa in a long cloak comes from Lucie Heaton. She has a set of four cards you can stitch with vintage Santas carrying gifts. Each is around 50 by 50 stitches and you can find them on Etsy.

Stitching Space has a sweet free Santa cross stitch pattern designed by Ksenia Voznesenskaya. Santa is holding a gift and there’s a lot of backstitching details to add depth. You could even use beads as the snowflakes falling around the scene. It uses 18 colors and three blends.

You can grab a cute Santa checking his list and/or a winking Santa from Craft and Fabric Links. These free patterns were originally published on ABC Cross Stitch Patterns.

Speaking of Santa checking his list, here’s another option in that style, where he’s getting expert advice from a reindeer. This one comes from Cross Stitching Goods on Etsy and measures 206 by 193 stitches. It uses 37 colors.

And if you envision Santa being busy in lots of different ways, you’ll love this design from Etsy seller Stitchrovia. Here Santa is busy decorating a tree, skiing, skating, wrapping presents, making a snowman and more. The full design is a lot of fun but you could also stitch individual Santas to use on greeting cards.

Gazette 94 has charts for six classic style Father Christmas cross stitch patterns. These would be great for making ornaments or cards, or you can stitch them and use them as gift tags that become part of the present.

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Quick Tip: How to Keep Cross Stitch Fabric from Fraying

One of the most common problems that cross stitchers at all skill levels have is that the cross stitch fabric can start fraying while you stitch.

Beginner cross stitchers might wonder why this happens and if there is something they are doing wrong to cause it.

The reason cross stitch fabric frays is because it is a woven fabric, and the nature of any kind of woven fabric (whether that’s cross stitch fabric, a torn up towel or a piece of fabric you’re going to sew) is that it wants to fray.

It’s not necessarily a huge deal if you cross stitch fabric starts fraying mid-project if you have left a lot of extra fabric around your stitching. But if there’s not much fabric to spare in order to be able to finish the project the way you want, you’ll want to do something to stop the fraying.

When I was growing up I remember my mom using masking tape for this purpose, but it turns out there are lots of different things that you can do to stop your cross stitch fabric from fraying.

Craft with Cartwright came up with 15 different things that you can try, which seems like a lot, but that just means you have lots of different things you can try.

If you don’t want to buy something, you can stitch along the edges. If you already have supplies like tape or glue, or access to pinking shears or a serger, there are lots of options you can try.

Some of these are more permanent than others, so it will depend a little bit on how you want to finish your cross stitch project as to which is the best choice for you. It’s a great idea to read through the whole list just so you can have them in the back of yoru mind the next time you start a project and think about how you would like to protect it.

You can find the whole list at Craft with Cartwright.

How do you like to stop fraying on your cross stitch projects? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo: Craft with Cartwright]