Paper Sailboat on the Waves Cross Stitch Pattern

About this sailboat cross stitch pattern

A little paper boat, folded from cream paper with a striped hull, floats on rolling blue waves. Above it the sky fades from pale blue to gold at the horizon with a few gulls far off, and at the bottom the waves break into white foam on a sandy beach dotted with small shells.

It’s a full square seascape: every stitch of the chart is filled, so it finishes as a small picture rather than a motif on bare fabric. It suits a bathroom, a beach house or a summer gift, and pairs well with the Leaping Dolphin for a sea-themed wall. Our summer round-up has more beach and sea designs.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 14“ x 14“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 23 DMC colors, about 23 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 3766 Peacock Blue – Light (1,842 stitches), 828 Sky Blue – Ultra Very Light (1,515) and 677 Old Gold – Very Light (1,442).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate because every square is stitched and the sea is made of several blues mixed in small patches. At 10,000 stitches it takes roughly 100 to 167 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. The boat itself is simple; the time goes into the water and the sky.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Start with the boat. It’s the only shape with clear edges, and stitching it first gives you a fixed point to count the waves from.
• Work the sea in horizontal bands. 3766 Peacock Blue – Light (1,842 stitches), 518 Wedgwood – Light (895) and 519 Sky Blue (824) form the wave lines. Stitching across the chart band by band, rather than color by color over the whole sea, keeps the wave shapes from drifting.
• Leave the foam until the blues are done. BLANC White (386 stitches) makes the wave crests and the foam on the sand. Adding it last, with fresh thread, keeps it bright against the darker blues.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 7.1“ x 7.1“ (18.0 x 18.0 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 6.2“ x 6.2“, and on 18-count at 5.6“ x 5.6“. An 11“ x 14“ frame leaves room for a mat.

Because it is a full square scene, it also looks good in a simple white square frame with no mat.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida