All the cross-stitch alphabets on this page are free. Licence: Public domain.
All the letters can be stitched using full cross stitches. Most are suitable for beginners, although some patterns are more advanced.
I have sourced these alphabets from older books and antique embroideries and included information about the date and the author or publisher where available.
The designer of the original embroidery pattern is often unknown. Since many early embroideries were based on patterns from the same German pattern books, some of the alphabets are very similar. (This is also why German letters often appear in Swedish pattern books.)
Keep in mind that older alphabets often omit the letters j, u or v, z, å, ä and ö. You can add dots or other marks yourself when stitching and use the letter J instead of I, as was common in the past.
Peter Quentel
This cross-stitch alphabet is taken from the second edition of Peter Quentel’s German pattern book. Different sources give different publication dates for the book, ranging from 1527 and 1544.
Bernhard Jobin
Pattern from a book printed in France around 1598. I have reconstructed the letters and numbers exactly as they appear in the book, including irregularities and numbers of different sizes.
Tobias Arnold
Cross-stitch alphabet from Germany, 1825. The pattern was drawn by hand in a pattern book, possibly copied from an older alphabet.
Syskonen Ekenmark
The Ekenmark family were renowned weavers and teachers who published several books on weaving. I have adapted some of their weaving patterns from 1828 for cross stitch:
Hulda Lundin
Letters and numbers from Handledning i metodisk undervisning i kvinnlig slöjd, 1924. Read more about the teacher Hulda Lundin.
Unknown designers
Here I will add alphabets for which there is no known designer or publisher, or where the identity of the person who stitched the original is uncertain.
I reconstructed this alphabet from a Swedish embroidery dated 1847. I have added J, N, Q, U, Z, Å, Ä, Ö, 5, 7, 0 and &, which were missing from the original. I have also added an alternative Y, as I personally felt that the original did not quite fit with the rest of the alphabet.
