Halloween by the Book cross stitch pattern

This listing is to purchase the Halloween by the Book cross stitch pattern. This was prevoiusly run as a stitchalong and is now available as a complete pattern. The pattern shows a selection of ghostly characters from classic literature rising up from a book.

The characters featured are:

Outer circle in clockwise direction from lower left:

Mr Hyde from Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
Ghost of Jacob Marley from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
Frankenstein’s Creature from Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Outer circle in clockwise direction from lower left:
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Lady Macbeth from Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Skeleton from Treasure Island by Robert Louise Stevenson

The stitched area of the finished piece is: 119 stitches wide x 115 stitches high

On 14 count fabric this is approximately 8.5 x 8.2 inches or 21.6 x 20.9 cm
On 16 count fabric this is approximately 7.4 x 7.2 inches or 18.9 x 18.3 cm
On 18 count fabric this is approximately 6.6 x 6.4 inches or 16.8 x 16.2 cm

These dimensions do not include the border of fabric you will need to leave around the design. I recommend you leave a further 2-3 inches all the way round (which means that you need to add 4-6 inches to your size measurements), or as much fabric as you need to mount it in the hoop size of your choice, if you want to mount it in a hoop.

The pattern was model stitched on ‘Cabbage’ printed fabric by Fabric Flair. This fabric is available from Lakeside Needlecraft at www.lakesideneedlecraft.co.uk The model was stitched on 16 count fabric in a 9 inch hoop.

You can also use mid-coloured fabric of any other colour you prefer - blue, green, purple and so on would all be fine. Any mid blue fabric in particular would work well. If using green you need to make sure the green threads will show up.

You need to make sure that both the very dark colours and the very light colours of the threads used will show up well, so don’t go for fabric which is too dark or too light. White, cream or very pale fabrics won’t work because of the white and cream threads used in the pattern. Doing a ‘floss toss’ of the called for threads on any potential fabrics can help you see if the colours will show up well enough.

24 thread colours are used in the design. You will need 1 skein or less of all the colours. The pattern features full cross stitches, a very small amount of backstitch, and a tiny number of fractional stitches. There are no French knots.

You will receive two PDF pattern booklets, one with charts with colour blocks and symbols, and one with black and white symbols (with colour backstitch). Each booklet has a single page chart for screen use, and a split page chart for printing. The booklets also have a small piece of writing about each character featured in the piece.

You will also receive comprehensive cross stitch instructions.

If you’re not already in the busy and friendly Climbing Goat Designs stitchers Facebook group, please come and join us there if you’d like to chat and share your progress. And to share on Instagram the stitchalong hashtag is #HalloweenBookSAL

Skill level: Suitable for all skill levels including beginner (though not ideal for absolute beginners).

This listing is for PDFs of this pattern; it is not a completed piece nor a kit, so no fabric, thread or other materials are included. The charts are Instant Download so you can start stitching straight away!

A link to the downloads will be sent to the email address you give when you order. There will also be a link to download the files directly from the completed order page. The files are sent as PDFs in one zip file. Please unzip the file (right click > extract all) after downloading, and then you can open each PDF within the file.

You may need Adobe Reader to open the PDF files. If you don’t have it you can download it for free here: https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/

If you have any problems or need help please let me know!

Patterns are for personal use only.
© Climbing Goat Designs