Beginner cross stitch patterns
Small charts with two to four colours, drawn so a first project finishes in an evening instead of stalling halfway through.
What makes a cross stitch pattern good for a beginner?
A small grid, few colours and solid blocks of stitches rather than single scattered ones. Everything on this page is 20 squares across or less and uses at most four threads, so you count short rows, change colour rarely and see the picture appear quickly, which is what keeps a first project moving.
How to read one of these charts
- One square is one full cross stitch, one bead or one pixel. The symbol in the square tells you which colour goes there.
- The heavy lines every ten squares are counting lines. Count in tens and a miscount shows up in the same row it happened.
- The small marks on the top and left edges mark the centre of the design, which is where most people start.
- The key under the chart lists every symbol with its colour, our thread code and how many squares of it the design uses.
Why these charts are easier
Three things make a first chart hard: a big grid, a long colour list and single stitches dotted about that are easy to miscount. Every design on this page avoids all three. The grids stop at 20 squares, the colour lists stop at four, and the shapes are drawn as solid blocks so a mistake is visible immediately rather than ten rows later.
The subjects are deliberately plain: a heart, a star, a flower, a leaf, a ladybird, a little house, a boat, an apple, a snowflake, a fish, an anchor and a crescent moon. Each one finishes between about 2.5 and 3.6 cm on 14 count aida, which is the right size for a card, a hoop ornament, a pocket or a gift tag.
What you need
A scrap of 14 count aida, a size 24 tapestry needle, a small hoop and the two to four colours the chart lists. Nothing here needs a full skein of anything. Start at the centre marks on the edges of the chart, work one colour at a time, and count in tens using the heavy guide lines.
Where to go next
When counting feels automatic, the full cross stitch patterns page has larger designs with shading and more colours, and the cross stitch alphabet lets you add a name or a date to anything you have already made. All of it is free under the same license, including selling the pieces you stitch yourself.
How to use these cross stitch charts
- Download the PDF and print it at 100 per cent on A4 or Letter paper. Black and white at normal quality is enough.
- Find the centre of your fabric and the centre marks on the chart, then work outwards colour by colour.
- The finished size printed on each pattern is measured on 14 count aida. Finer fabric makes the same chart smaller, not shorter.