Free Cross Stitch Fonts To Use For Words + Phrases
Here’s a round up of some of the best free cross stitch fonts out there. From modern fonts, classic fonts, to ones with floral motifs, this post has a little bit of everything.
You can cross stitch each sampler as is, but you can also use them for words and phrases. Keep reading to learn how to easily plan and create your own custom word designs.
Free Cross Stitch Fonts
Modern Cross Stitch Fonts
Classic Fonts
- Simple Capital Letters
- Serif Font Alphabet
- Gothic Alphabet
- Cursive Font
- Multicolored Cursive Letters
- Decorative Display Letters For Monograms
- Rainbow Old English
Floral Alphabets
Cross Stitch Alphabet Pattern Maker
If you can’t quite find the font you’re looking for, you can generate your own alphabet cross stitch patterns by importing a font that you like into StitchFiddle. If you’d like to learn how to do it, check out this article that shows you how.
How To Use an Alphabet Sampler Pattern
Once you’ve found a font (or several fonts) you’d like to use, you can, of course get right to stitching. But the sizing of the letters may vary and the design may not turn out as evenly spaced and neat as it could have with a little more planning.
This is why I recommend taking the additional step to plan and design your very own pattern using a cross stitch pattern maker.
First, you’ll want to print off the cross stitch charts for the fonts you’d like to use.
Then, using a program such as StitchFiddle, you can go in and design your very own pattern.
Planning The Pattern
Planning a pattern can feel daunting, but here’s a great place to start. Do some basic math to figure out on average how many squares each letter uses so that you can get an idea of how large you’ll need to make the pattern. Once you’ve got a rough estimate, you’ll likely want to make the pattern slightly larger to give yourself some room for error.
For example, let’s figure out the width of a pattern using the floral letters pictured above. The letters are on average about 18 squares wide. If I want to create a 4 letter word and leave 3 squares in between each letter:
- I would multiply 18 x 4 (72) and then add the spaces in between each letter (9).
- I want to account for some space around the word, so let’s add 10 squares to each side (20).
- Then add all of this together (72 + 9 + 20 = 101). So the width of the design should be at least 101 squares wide.
- Now we have something to work with. To ensure our design isn’t too large, we can convert this number to inches. To calculate the size in inches, divide the total width of the design by the thread count of your fabric. Say I want to stitch my design on 14 count Aida. I would divide 101/14 which equals 7.21 inches.
In order to calculate the vertical height, you’ll want to repeat this process again.
Once you’ve calculated the size of the pattern, create a canvas in StitchFiddle and reference the font patterns to start making your pattern. It’s definitely a bit time consuming, but it will save you from a lot of mistakes and allow you to visualize how the design will look.
It’s especially beneficial to do when you are mixing different designs, borders, and fonts, like I did for this garden quote.
Once you’re happy with the design, you can print it out and select the colors you want to use. Then you’re ready to get stitching! P.S. if you’d like to stitch the Secret Garden pattern, you can grab it for free here.
Amanda is a hand embroidery teacher and artist. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing accessible tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.