In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, here’s a free hand embroidery pattern for you – a Celtic Cross. I suppose it might be a little late to stitch this up for this year, but if you like Things Celtic, I reckon you can stitch this up any time o’ the year!
I took the design for this Celtic Cross from a little button and altered it a little bit. When thinking about how to embroider it, there are lots of options. You could just outline everything, using chain stitch or stem stitch. Or, you could get adventurous and fill in all the knot work with a filling stitch – satin stitch, stem stitch filling, chain stitch filling, or couching. You could get fancy, and work the design on a green background (velvet would be very rich) and use goldwork techniques to complete the design. Really, when it comes to hand embroidery, the possibilities are many and varied!
You can use a photocopier or photo editing software to scale the image up or down. Here’s a PDF version:
Celtic Cross Design for Hand Embroidery
Enjoy it!
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Hullo there Mary,
Thank you.
I like the idea of doing it mainly in French knots as a Parterre garden type embroidery. Some tuffed turkey stitch could add dimmention as hedges with some plainer pathways playing against the coloured flower knots if needed.
I have some lovely old buttons and can relate their patterns to this type of design. My best buttons we saved from a bonfire we saw when driving past an old home. The old lady had died and most of the things were getting chucked into the fire. These were actually being taken to the (shudder) fire when we stopped.
Cheers Kath.
Thank you so very much.
I like these design so much. I dont'n know how I'm going to stitch it, but your ideas are wonderful
Anna
Oh, I love this one. thanks! I will enjoy stitching it out.
Wow! Thank you so much. This is a great design. Will send a picture when it is finished, if that is OK. So much to do, so little time…
Laura
Great pattern, I love Celtic crosses.
Have a great day!
Fran D
Hi Mary, I attempted to translate this pattern into a temari:
http://worldembroideries.blogspot.com/2010/03/shamrock-temari.html
Enjoy!
Jane
Thanks, Jane! I like both temari – they're beautiful!!
Merci beaucoup, votre site est une source d’inspiration incroyable, une motivation qui me donne envie de broder à la main
Hello, – Thank you for these beautiful designs! I am brand new to embroidery and have been reading and learning from your articles and videos. Can you tell me whether you recommend the San Fransisco online classes that advertise on your site? Do you teach classes yourself? I’m looking for help with getting intriduced to embroidery as well as information on selling finished products. Thank you so much for your time and help!
You can’t go wrong with the San Francisco School of Needlework and Design!
Ok, thank you.
I’m interested in easy beautiful free embroidery patterns and especially star and Celtic patterns.
I’d like to sign up for newsletter.
Also any hand embroidery classes or groups inI NYC.
Thanks
Mary
I love it! Thank you!