Christmas Elf with a Gift Wagon Cross Stitch Pattern

About this Christmas elf cross stitch pattern

An elf child with tousled brown hair, pointed ears, pink cheeks and a little red nose sits on the ground with legs stretched out, smiling. The child wears a long red knit coat with brown buttons, a red-and-white striped scarf blowing to one side, cream knit stockings and brown boots. Beside them stands a wooden wagon piled with wrapped presents, pine sprigs, pine cones and a small shovel.

It reads like a page from an old Christmas picture book, and its size makes it a centerpiece for a holiday wall. The Christmas Elf Hugging a Fawn is a smaller companion, and the Elf Child and Owl on the Moon has a similar face. Our large cross stitch round-up compares the big projects.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 21“ x 22“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 23 DMC colors, about 28 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 939 Navy Blue – Very Dark (4,823 stitches), 3774 Desert Sand – Very Light (3,389) and 839 Beige Brown – Dark (3,375).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Advanced for its size: at 21,841 stitches it takes roughly 218 to 364 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. The coat is drawn with a knit texture, and the wagon is packed with small gifts and greenery. Half the fabric (49.9%) stays bare, which helps.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Buy three skeins of 939. 939 Navy Blue – Very Dark (4,823 stitches) is the outline, the hair shading and the wagon’s dark lines. Two skeins each of 3774, 839 and 347 are needed too.
• Stitch the face first. 3774 Desert Sand – Very Light (3,389 stitches) and 3824 Apricot – Light (1,477) make the skin and cheeks. The face is what people look at, so get it right while you’re fresh.
• Work the coat’s knit texture in columns. 347 Salmon – Very Dark (2,570 stitches) and 777 Raspberry – Very Dark (996) make the knit ribs. Stitching each rib top to bottom, rather than row by row, keeps the texture lined up.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 14.4“ x 15.5“ (36.6 x 39.4 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 12.6“ x 13.6“, and on 18-count at 11.2“ x 12.1“. An 18“ x 24“ frame leaves room for a mat.

Stitched on 18-count it shrinks enough to fit a 14“ x 18“ frame.

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