Chickadee in a Glass Ornament Cross Stitch Pattern

About this chickadee cross stitch pattern

A round chickadee perches on the bottom of a clear glass bauble, as if it were sitting inside a frame. It has a dark gray cap, a pink cheek and a cream and white chest, with a small sprig of pine and red berries on its head. The ornament’s gold cap is wrapped in more pine and berries, and its glass rim is shaded in pale golds and grays. Splashes of red, pink and gold dots float around the outside.

It works as a Christmas piece that can stay up all winter, and it suits a gift for a bird lover. See it with the other birds in our bird cross stitch patterns round-up, or pair it with the Ornament Birds on a Pine Bough.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 18“ x 20“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 16 DMC colors, about 17 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 648 Beaver Gray – Light (2,890 stitches), B5200 Snow White (1,885) and 939 Navy Blue – Very Dark (1,779).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate. The glass rim is built from several pale colors that sit close together, and the scattered dots around the ornament need careful counting. At 12,139 stitches it takes roughly 121 to 202 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. More than half of the fabric stays bare, so it goes faster than its size suggests.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Don’t carry thread between the dots. The red, pink and gold splashes are mostly single stitches spread over bare fabric. A thread run across the back from one dot to the next shows through white Aida, so finish off each little group and start again.
• Stitch the dark outline first. DMC 939 Navy Blue – Very Dark (1,779 stitches) outlines the ornament, the bird and the hanging loop. Once it’s in, the pale glass colors have clear edges.
• Sort the pale rim colors before you start. 648 Beaver Gray – Light, ECRU, B5200 Snow White, 422 Hazelnut Brown – Light and 612 Drab Brown – Light all shade the glass. Put them on a labeled floss card in the order the chart uses them.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 11.6“ x 13.1“ (29.5 x 33.3 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 10.1“ x 11.4“, and on 18-count at 9.0“ x 10.2“. A 14“ x 18“ frame leaves room for a mat.

A gold or white frame matches the ornament cap. A deep red mat picks up the berries for a more Christmas look.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida