One beginner cross stitch pattern for children to make.  It makes a nice picture on plastic canvas or 6 count aida (terrific for beginners!).

To learn more about cross stitching, check out our "How to Cross Stitch" directions.

When I do these projects with the girls, I encourage them fill in the white backgrounds with white cross stitch instead of leaving it unstitched.  The long rows of single colored stitches are terrific practice.  But it's completely up to you!  It does make the project take a lot longer.

Materials:

• printer,
• paper,
• Embroidery Floss Used:
  
  • feel free to substitute colors -- this gives the kids the chance to match their project to their bedrooms and show off their creativity!  The beauty of simple projects with just a few colors is that substitution is really easy.
    • If your child wants a pink and purple project to match their room, substitute the pink for the red and the purple for the blue.
    • If you have left over floss lying around you can use that too (ex:  black for the body instead of blue)
• Aida cloth with a low number (6 count Aida is 6 stitches per inch while 10 count is 10 stitches per inch...  The lower the number, the bigger the project ends up being and the easier it is for a beginner to complete)
  • 6 count would give you a 6.5 x 5.2 inch finished project
  • 8 count would give you a 4.9 x 3.9 inch finished project

  OR

• plastic canvas,
• embroidery hoop (a must! unless you're using plastic canvas),
• needle (20 or 22 work well, but any that fit 3 strands of floss will do)

Instructions:

• Print out the template of choice.
• Fold cloth in half and then in half again to find the center.
• Place hoop around cloth.  Start as close to center as you can.
• Cut about 18 inch pieces of floss and divide in half (so you have 3 strands of floss to work with).
• Start cross stitching!  To learn more about cross stitching, check out our "How to Cross Stitch" directions.

Templates:

• Close the template window after printing to return to this screen.
• Set page margins to zero if you have trouble fitting the template on one page (FILE, PAGE SETUP or FILE, PRINTER SETUP in most browsers).

Dragonfly Cross Stitch Template   (color)   or   (B&W)

Print friendly version of these instructions