Classic Rainbow Row needlepoint pattern
Advanced · 15 colors · 4 × 4 in · 18 mesh
Download free PDFPDF, US Letter · 35 KB
Five tall row houses in light pink, pale yellow, pale green, peach and pale blue stand side by side with dark green shutters and navy windows. Two palm trees rise from a gray sidewalk under a blue sky with two white clouds.
Size and details
The chart is 72 × 72 stitches: a square ornament on 18 mesh canvas.
Worked in tent stitch throughout.
Advanced: 15 colors. Over the whole chart, changes of color are about 3.8 stitches apart. 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.
| Mesh | Stitched size | Canvas to cut |
|---|---|---|
| 10 | 7.2 × 7.2 in 18.3 × 18.3 cm | 11.2 × 11.2 in 28.4 × 28.4 cm |
| 12 | 6 × 6 in 15.2 × 15.2 cm | 10 × 10 in 25.4 × 25.4 cm |
| 13 | 5.5 × 5.5 in 14.1 × 14.1 cm | 9.5 × 9.5 in 24.2 × 24.2 cm |
| 14 | 5.1 × 5.1 in 13.1 × 13.1 cm | 9.1 × 9.1 in 23.2 × 23.2 cm |
| 18 | 4 × 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
- DMC 825 Dark Blue 989 stitches about 7 yards
- DMC 700 Bright Green 509 stitches about 4 yards
- DMC BLANC White 465 stitches about 4 yards
- DMC 955 Light Nile Green 441 stitches about 4 yards
- DMC 745 Light Pale Yellow 377 stitches about 3 yards
- DMC 3326 Light Rose 360 stitches about 3 yards
- DMC 353 Peach 342 stitches about 3 yards
- DMC 415 Pearl Gray 287 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 414 Dark Steel Gray 280 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 823 Dark Navy Blue 261 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 356 Medium Terra Cotta 222 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 3325 Light Baby Blue 206 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 433 Medium Brown 205 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 890 Ultra Dark Pistachio Green 172 stitches about 2 yards
- DMC 702 Kelly Green 68 stitches about 1 yard
5,184 stitches in the chart, about 43 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
- Chart for US Letter paper PDF · 2 pages
- Chart for A4 paper PDF · 2 pages
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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