Rudolph is hauling a sleigh bursting with presents in this colorful Christmas cross-stitch pattern. A snowy pine/berry garland tops the design and is centered around a Christmas stocking with a white poinsettia at the center.
PATTERN DETAILS: The design was stitched on 32ct Raw Natural Belfast Linen. The pattern calls for floss from DMC and Weeks Dye Works. DMC alternatives are given for the Weeks flosses. The pattern uses whole stitches only, and the stitch count is 105w x 61h. FABRIC TIP: Make sure you choose to stitch this on fabric that is dark enough to let the snow show. Raw Natural Linen from Zweigart or Mushroom Lugana are my current favorite go-to beige shades for snowy stitching.
RECREATE THE LOOK: Finish Fabric - I used a red and white polka dot fabric from my stash. The selvage dated it at 2012 (yikes!), so I'm pretty positive it's not available anymore. I appreciated that the polka dots on this fabric were more randomly placed; when they are all in a row it is a lot harder to get a precise finish. If you look for something similar, I'd try to find one where the dots are more randomly scattered. Cording - I used 6 lengths of DMC 5200 to get the thickness of cording on the model and spun it with a Kreinik cording drill. Bow - The bow was made with a 1.5" emerald green grosgrain ribbon from Offray. The tail piece is just a straight strip of that ribbon with dovetail ends snipped in. The tail piece is wrapped around the bow piece at the center. The center is covered in a snowflake button from Walmart. I used hot glue to adhere everything together, and used fray check to seal the ends and keep them from fraying. Happy Stitching!
