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Classic jack-in-the-box needlepoint pattern

Advanced · 12 colors · 4 × 4 in · 18 mesh

Shape: Square · Colors: Fair faceChange

Classic jack-in-the-box, square: 72 by 72 stitches in tent stitch.

Download free PDFPDF, US Letter · 26 KB

A clown in a red and green jester hat pops up on a gray spring, arms spread wide, from a red box with a yellow star on the front and a crank at the side. The navy ground is dotted with gold specks in even rows.

Size and details

The chart is 72 × 72 stitches: a square ornament on 18 mesh canvas.

Worked in tent stitch throughout.

Advanced: 12 colors. Changes of color are about 3 stitches apart, leaving out the background around the picture. With 10 colors or more, closer than 4.5 apart is Advanced, 4.5 or more is Intermediate, and a design with this many colors is never Beginner.

Shape and border

Colors

Sizes on each mesh
MeshStitched sizeCanvas to cut
107.2 × 7.2 in
18.3 × 18.3 cm		11.2 × 11.2 in
28.4 × 28.4 cm
126 × 6 in
15.2 × 15.2 cm		10 × 10 in
25.4 × 25.4 cm
135.5 × 5.5 in
14.1 × 14.1 cm		9.5 × 9.5 in
24.2 × 24.2 cm
145.1 × 5.1 in
13.1 × 13.1 cm		9.1 × 9.1 in
23.2 × 23.2 cm
184 × 4 in
10.2 × 10.2 cm		8 × 8 in
20.3 × 20.3 cm

Mesh is the number of canvas threads to the inch; the row in bold is the mesh this chart is sized for. Canvas to cut includes a margin of 2 in (5.1 cm) of bare canvas on every side. Leave at least that much.

Paper for the PDF

Threads and canvas

Fair face

  • DMC 939 Very Dark Navy Blue 4,004 stitches about 28 yards
  • DMC 666 Bright Red 243 stitches about 2 yards
  • DMC 498 Dark Red 201 stitches about 2 yards
  • DMC 726 Light Topaz 195 stitches about 2 yards
  • DMC 783 Medium Topaz 145 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 353 Peach 86 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 702 Kelly Green 84 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC BLANC White 84 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 414 Dark Steel Gray 64 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 415 Pearl Gray 56 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 700 Bright Green 20 stitches about 1 yard
  • DMC 310 Black 2 stitches about 1 yard

5,184 stitches in the chart, about 42 yards in all. The yards are estimates for 18 mesh.

Thread colors are approximate screen matches to DMC numbers. Check against real thread before you buy.

The numbers are DMC color numbers, which its six-strand cotton and its pearl cotton share. Wool and silk are numbered differently: match those by eye. For how many strands and which needle, see which thread suits which mesh.

The yards are of thread as it is threaded in the needle: stitched with several strands together, a thread takes that many yards of single strand for every yard listed. For six-strand cotton on 18 mesh, the thread and needle chart gives 4 to 6 strands.

You also need blank needlepoint canvas (mono canvas) in the mesh you choose (see mesh sizes), cut to the size in the table above, and a tapestry needle.

An estimate. The length of thread one stitch uses on the front and back of the canvas, times the number of stitches, plus 30 percent for starting, ending and the tail left in the needle. Each count is estimated as basketweave or continental and rounded up to a whole yard, so the yards in all are a little more than the thread calculator gives for every stitch at once. The 30 percent is this site's own choice. The thread calculator works the same estimate for any count and mesh.

Getting it onto your canvas

This is a counted chart: one square of the chart is one stitch. Find the center of your canvas and the center of the chart (the red arrows above and to the left of the chart), and count out from there, a color at a time.

Nothing is printed on the canvas, so no transfer is needed. How to needlepoint covers the first stitches.

Downloads

Each file has the thread key and the sizes on its first page, then the chart with a symbol in every square and a heavier line every ten. A chart too large for one page is divided over several, with two rows or columns repeated in gray where the pages join; a page may be turned on its side for a part that is wider than it is tall.

For your own stitching, gifts and handmade pieces you sell. Do not resell or share this PDF.

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