Here’s a remake of a bird border from an old German needlework book, published in the late 1800’s. One of my students came across it in a stack of books I brought into class, and was interested in working it. Unfortunately, the diagram in the book is not really “readable” – it’s small, it’s hand-drawn and it doesn’t photocopy well. So I said I’d play with it to see if I could come up with a cleaner version.

When the pattern was finally finished, I thought the results were worth sharing with you, in case you can find a use for it, too!

The original pattern was actually made for filet crochet. But there’s no reason that it can’t be used for cross stitch or for any other counted technique – it could even be used for bead weaving, which is what another student suggested.

The design is repeatable. To begin and end, I’d suggest the points on the left and right of the main “star” around the larger birds.

So here it is, in PDF form:

Counted Thread Bird Border (PDF)

Hope you enjoy it!