Stained Glass Window Templates

Six window patterns drawn as heavy black leading on white, one per page: a rose window, a single Gothic lancet with a quatrefoil head, two lights with tracery under a small rose, diamond quarries inside a pieced border, a grisaille lancet, and a Victorian half round fanlight. They go with our faux stained glass windows guide, which covers the glass itself, the methods and the lighting.

What’s Included

• Letter, tabloid (11 x 17) and poster (24 x 36) PDFs, six pages each
• Every glass piece numbered for color: 1 cobalt blue, 2 ruby red, 3 manganese purple, 4 amber, 5 clear. The key sits in the footer of each sheet, so change the scheme freely
• A grisaille sheet with no key: heavy lines for leading, fine lines for a painted vine and quarry flowers
• Saddle bars (the heavy cross lines) on the tall lancets, where a real window needed iron support
• The printed size of the glass outline, a scaling note and a 1 inch check square on every page

Three Ways to Use a Sheet

Liquid leading. Tape clear cling or an acrylic sheet over the template and trace the heavy lines with liquid leading. Plaid says to keep the nozzle tip one inch above the surface with even pressure, and that the leading “skins over in about 8 hours; allow 24 hours for through-dry” (Plaid’s product notes). Fill each numbered piece with window paint once the lines are dry. Plaid rates it “not recommended for outside use,” so it goes on the inside of the glass.

Cling and marker. Grafix says its Cling Film cannot go through a printer and that “permanent markers/pens work the best” (Grafix’s FAQ). So lay the cling over the printout and trace. The grisaille sheet was drawn for this: black line only, every pane left clear.

Cardstock cutout. Print the template, tape it to black cardstock, and cut out every numbered piece with a craft knife. The lines are thick enough to survive as the leading. Back each hole with colored tissue or lighting gel and hang the panel against the glass.

Scaling to Your Window

Print at 100% (“actual size”) and measure the 1 inch square before you trust anything else. Then measure the visible glass in your sash and divide by the printed width in the footer; that ratio is your enlargement. Tabloid and poster already cover most door lights and small sashes. For anything bigger, a print shop can enlarge the poster PDF, or project a page onto paper taped to the wall and trace it, the way our tombstone templates scale up.

A lit window reads from the street, so plan the panel alongside the rest of the glass in our Halloween window displays guide. For the room behind it, the Victorian Gothic decor gallery has the look.