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Stitch Up a Fun Halloween Sampler

September 16, 2023 by Sarah White

Need a simple Halloween project to make for spooky season? This Halloween sampler cross stitch pattern from Anchor might be just the thing.

The design is made up of six horizontal panels that you can stitch separately or all together to make the sampler. The designs include:

  • cauldrons, potions and skulls and cross bones
  • the word Halloween worked in multiple colors
  • gravestones, crosses and witch hats
  • a spiderweb with spiders
  • ghosts, bats and the word boo
  • more graves and crosses with pumpkins this time

Each section is divided by simple two-color rows (I love how the bats hang off the row above them!). The individual sections could be worked horizontally or vertically to make Halloween bookmarks or other projects. 

As shown the full design is 71 by 85 stitches and it is worked in six colors. Worked on 14 count fabric it comes out to about 5 by 6 inches. The pattern is rated easy and includes a good-sized chart in black and white and a little basic cross stitch instruction if you need it.

The colors used in this one are classic for Halloween — black, orange, green, purple, gray and white — but you could change up the colors if you like or even use fewer of them if you wanted to make it a little simpler. The stripes between the motifs could also be worked in a single color, or use a variegated thread to make it even more fun.

You can download this free pattern from Yarnspirations. In addition to this one there are a handful of other free Halloween cross stitch patterns from Anchor on the Yarnspirations website. You can find all of them here, but they include a ghost, a bubbling cauldron, a laughing jack o’lantern and a black cat riding a broom. And if you need more black cat cross stitch patterns be sure to check out my roundup of those, which you can find here.

[Photo: Yarnspirations]

Next Pattern:

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Have you read?

Book Review: 200 Japanese Cross Stitch Designs

If you like repeating cross stitch designs, borders you can use on other projects or as bookmarks, florals and Japanese-inspired designs, you’ll want to check out 200 Japanese Cross Stitch Designs by Saeko Endo. This collection of 200 cross stitch charts is low on instruction but big on inspiration for those who are comfortable taking a chart and running with it. 

The book includes a brief introduction to the needed supplies and basics of stitching, but mostly is just photographs of finished designs and the charts that go with them. The charts vary widely in size and there can be anywhere from one to six charts printed on a single page. 

Many of the designs are repeating patterns, but the chart shows a larger version so you can see how the repeats go together. Each chart has marked what portion is repeating and how many stitches and rows it includes. Other than that the charts are not numbered, but there are darker lines every five rows to help you count. 

The patterns all range from one to three colors, and some include half cross stitches or back stitching, but most are full stitches. 

The book is arranged into categories of motifs: geometric patterns, retro patterns, traditional Japanese patterns, floral and fauna and borders and pictorial motifs. 

My favorites are the Japanese designs, many of which are recognizable from woodcuts, kimono designs and traditional shashiko embroidery.  You’ll find cherry blossoms, suns, knots, and simple line designs that would be lots of fun to stitch. 

There are a few pages devoted to different ways to modify charts such as changing colors, changing the way to design is repeated, flipping and rotating designs.

Other than that you’re on your own for how you actually want to use these designs. Of course they can just be stitched and framed but it might have been nice to see some of the projects stitched and staged in a way you might use them in everyday life (repeating motifs as coasters, or a bigger design turned into a pillow, for example). 

Sometimes it helps to see designs used in different ways to get you thinking about how you might use them yourself. If you don’t need that creative push, this is a fine book full of patterns you’ll have fun playing with in different ways. 

About the book: 112 pages, paperback, 200 patterns. Published 2025 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

 

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