By Cross Stitch Library · October 19, 2026
A grinning jack-o'-lantern gentleman in a black suit, framed in an orange oval like an old family portrait — a spooky-fun Halloween cross-stitch in 7 colors.
Your pattern is at the end of this page, right after the stitching guide below.
Somebody’s great-great-grandfather, apparently: posed in a dark suit and striped shirt, oval frame and all, with a carved pumpkin where his head should be and a very pleased glowing grin.
The joke is the format. It’s laid out like a formal Victorian portrait — oval frame, centered sitter, stiff shoulders — so it works best hung somewhere a real family photo would go, on a gallery wall or a mantel among picture frames. At 84 x 113 stitches it finishes 6.0“ x 8.1“ on 14-count Aida, small enough to stitch in October and still have it up before Halloween. For more jack-o’-lanterns, the Black Kitten Carrying Jack-o’-Lanterns carries a whole stack of them, and the Witch Kitten with Skull and Pumpkins is the gothic big project; all three are in our witchy Halloween round-up.
Seven colors and nothing but full cross stitches, with big single-color areas: DMC 741 Tangerine alone is 3,334 of the 6,273 stitches, covering both the pumpkin and the oval frame. It’s longer than a first tiny sampler, but there’s very little color changing, which makes it a good first “real” piece for someone who has finished one small chart.
Start with the oval frame: it’s symmetrical, so count it from the center line out and check the two sides match before you go further — an off-by-one there throws the whole portrait off-center. The glowing face is 142 stitches of 744 Pale Yellow inside the 741 orange, so stitch the yellow eyes and mouth first and fill the orange around them; it’s much easier than leaving the right-shaped holes. The suit is 310 Black with 535 Ash Gray for the folds — on white Aida the two read clearly apart, but on dark or black fabric the gray will disappear, so stick with a light fabric for this one.
Choose your paper size and color or black & white, then download the The Pumpkin King Portrait PDF chart and thread list — free, no sign-up.
