Dutch Winter Cross Stitch: Skaters, Windmills and Snow
A winter cross stitch kit does not have to mean Christmas. The Dutch winter collection holds 26 designs of frozen canals, skaters, snowbound windmills and lamplight on the ice — scenes that stay on the wall from December right through to March, long after the tree has gone. Kits start at €32.95, and the same scenes exist as 40 designs in the Dutch winter Paint by Numbers range if you would rather use markers than thread. Start with Skaters on the Frozen Canal, which is the whole idea in one picture.
In short
- Winter, not Christmas: 26 cross stitch designs with no baubles or Santa hats, so they work as seasonal decor for three months rather than one week.
- The scenes are genuinely Dutch: polders, pollard willows, stepped gables, drawbridges and skating tours on natural ice.
- From €32.95 in 15 sizes, on a pre-printed 11CT canvas with the symbols already on the fabric — no counting.
- Same scene, other craft: 40 of these designs also exist as Paint by Numbers, including two-canvas duo sets that share one marker set.
- Free worldwide shipping, no minimum order; you will see the exact delivery time for your address at checkout.
Why the Dutch do winter differently
Dutch winter imagery is its own genre, and it has been for four hundred years. The reason is geography. The Netherlands is laced with canals and ditches, almost all of it is flat, and when a hard frost arrives the whole country turns into a road network made of ice. People do not go to a rink; they put on skates at the end of the garden and set off towards the next village.
That is why the scenes look the way they do. There is no mountain, no pine forest, no log cabin. Instead you get a low horizon, a huge sky, bare pollard willows leaning over the water, warmly lit windows in brick houses and a ribbon of skaters disappearing into the distance. The light is particular too: short days mean long twilights, so the ice turns pink and grey-blue rather than white.
For an international stitcher, that is the appeal. These are not generic snow scenes with a robin added. They are a specific place in a specific kind of cold, and they look quietly different from everything else on the wall.
A field guide to what you are stitching
Some of the detail in these designs is worth knowing about before you start, because once you can read the scene it becomes far more satisfying to stitch.
| What you are looking at | What it is | Design |
|---|---|---|
| A wooden stall on the ice with steaming kettles | A koek-en-zopie — a pop-up stall that appears on frozen water selling hot chocolate, pea soup and gingerbread. It is the social heart of a Dutch freeze. | Koek-en-Zopie by the Ice |
| A line of skaters passing village after village | A skating tour. The legendary one is the Elfstedentocht, an almost 200 km route through eleven Frisian towns that only runs when the ice is thick enough — which is rare enough to be a national event. | Skating Tour past the Frisian Villages |
| A windmill alone in an empty white field | A polder: reclaimed land below sea level, kept dry by the mill. In winter the ditches freeze and the whole thing goes silent. | Windmill in the Snow at Sunrise |
| Narrow houses with stepped roofs along the ice | Canal houses. The gables step upwards because the plots were taxed on width, so the Dutch built tall and thin. | Skaters on the Frozen Canal |
| A crowded river full of tiny figures playing games | A Golden Age winter landscape after Hendrick Avercamp, who painted the ice as a place where the whole social order mixed — including kolf, an ancestor of golf played on frozen water. | Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters |
Which design to choose
The palettes here are cooler and quieter than the Christmas designs — ice blue, grey-blue, snow white and fir green, lifted by lantern yellow and twilight pink. That changes what is easy and what is hard.
Scenes with one clear subject and a calm background are the forgiving ones. Windmill in the Snow at Sunrise is mostly sky and snow with a strong silhouette, so it moves quickly and still looks accomplished. It is a good first winter project.
Scenes built from many small figures are the slow, absorbing ones. Winter Landscape with Ice Skaters hides dozens of little stories in it — a horse-drawn sleigh, a couple arm in arm, someone sprawled on the ice — and each one needs patience and a larger canvas to exist at all. Choose it because you want weeks of stitching, not because you want a result by Friday.
In between sits Koek-en-Zopie by the Ice, where the pleasure is the contrast between cold ice and warm lantern light. If you are new to reading a palette like that, our cross stitch cheat sheet on Aida count, strands and needle sizes is a useful five minutes first.
Sizes, canvas types and what it costs
Every kit comes in 15 sizes, from 20×30 cm up to 80×100 cm, starting at €32.95 and rising with the size of the canvas. The Type option matters as much as the size: the pre-printed canvas has the symbols and colour numbers printed straight onto the 11CT fabric, so there is nothing to count and nothing to keep your place in, while the counted pattern is the chart on its own for stitchers who already have fabric and threads at home.
One piece of advice specific to these designs: wide landscapes want width. A low horizon, a long line of skaters and a big sky need room to breathe, so a landscape scene at a small size loses much of what makes it good. If budget is the constraint, choose a simpler scene at a generous size rather than a crowded one at a small one.
A pre-printed kit arrives with the canvas, a set of premium eco cotton threads in the colours that design needs, two gilded needles in a protective case, step-by-step instructions written for beginners and a printed symbol chart. The exact thread count is listed on each product page. A frame is not included.
The same scenes, with markers instead of thread
If thread is not your medium, 40 of these winter scenes also exist in the Dutch winter Paint by Numbers range. You colour numbered areas on a pre-printed canvas with numbered markers — no water, no brushes, no drying time — and you can choose up to 20 colours (Essential), up to 30 (Detailed) or up to 40 (Premium).
Several come as duo sets: two canvases that share one palette, finished with a single marker set. Dutch Winter – Paint by Numbers Set pairs the skaters at dusk with the windmill at sunrise, so you get evening light and morning light hanging side by side. Single canvases start at €54.95 and duo sets at €65.95.
Not sure which craft suits you? Our comparison of the two is honest about the trade-offs, and winter Paint by Numbers: snow, northern lights and long evenings covers the wider winter range. If you do want the festive version after all, the Christmas cross stitch collection has 52 designs. Shipping is free worldwide with no minimum order, and you will see the exact delivery time for your address at checkout.
Frequently asked questions
What is a koek-en-zopie?
A temporary stall that appears on frozen Dutch water during a hard freeze, selling hot chocolate, pea soup and spiced gingerbread to skaters. The name is old Dutch for roughly "cake and tipple". It is the detail that makes a skating scene feel lived in rather than merely pretty, and it is the subject of Koek-en-Zopie by the Ice.
Which Dutch winter design is best for a beginner?
Windmill in the Snow at Sunrise. It is built from large, calm areas — sky, snow, a strong windmill silhouette — so the picture appears early and the palette stays simple. Avoid the crowded Golden Age scenes for a first project; they are wonderful, but they are slow.
How much does a winter cross stitch kit cost?
Kits start at €32.95 and the price rises with the canvas size, across 15 sizes from 20×30 cm to 80×100 cm. Each product page shows the price for every size, and shipping is free worldwide with no minimum order.
Can I get these winter scenes as Paint by Numbers instead?
Yes — 40 designs in the Dutch winter Paint by Numbers range, including duo sets of two canvases that share one marker set. Single canvases start at €54.95 and duo sets at €65.95, with colour levels of up to 20, up to 30 or up to 40 colours.
Are winter kits only worth it in December?
That is rather the point of choosing winter over Christmas. There are no baubles, no Santa hats and no wrapped presents in these scenes, so a framed skating canal or snowbound windmill sits comfortably on a wall from the first frost until spring — and plenty of people simply leave them up all year.
Do you ship outside the Netherlands?
Yes, shipping is free worldwide with no minimum order. You will see the exact delivery time for your own address at checkout. If you are ordering as a gift for a particular date, allow more time than you think you need.