Snowflake Cross Stitch Patterns

I know it might not be feeling all that wintry where you are (we typically go back and forth a lot before it decides to solidly be winter where I live sometime in December) but if you want to tempt fate it might be time to start cross stitching some snowflakes.

Snowflakes are generally pretty easy cross stitch patterns for beginners because they usually are symmetrical and often only use one color. If you’re stitching with white thread you can play with the color of your fabric for a different look.

Small snowflakes can be made into ornaments for the tree or used as reusable gift tags on gifts.

Cathy Bussi’s snowflake Christmas tree is really cute (and could have fit into my roundup of Christmas tree cross stitch patterns the other day) and uses 10 different colors to make the snowflakes on a light blue background. It’s 87 by 102 stitches, or about 6.2 by 7.3 inches when worked on 14 count fabric.

Make it with Heart has a collection of three simple and free snowflake cross stitch patterns, which they show on black fabric for a lot of contrast. The small one fits a 3-inch hoop, so it would be perfect as an ornament.

This super simple pattern from American Crafty Lass on Etsy would be a great project for a new stitcher. It uses five colors but each of the snowflake shapes is really simple, and you can stitch them as shown or individually on different projects.

I love this simple but effective flurry of snowflakes from Lu’s Cross Stitch Shop on Etsy. Worked in a single color with cross stitch and backstitching, these individual flakes could be used on a gift tag, greeting card or bookmark as well. As shown, the full pattern fits in a 6-inch hoop.

Wild Bluebell Patterns on Etsy has a collection of little snowflakes it shows with a red background and in individual hoops. You can stitch up the whole set of nine and frame them together, or do several all on one piece of fabric if you’d rather.

Needle ‘n Thread has a cute, free folk-inspired snowflake pattern that’s perfect for the corner of a napkin or the border of another project. It’s meant to be stitched on plain weave fabric, and the pattern includes tips for how to go about doing that.

Here are more snowflake cross stitch patterns I’ve shared through the years if you need more inspiration!

Next Pattern:

How to Railroad Your Cross Stitch

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]

Next Pattern:

Have you read?