Gnome Decorating a Christmas Tree Cross Stitch Pattern

About this Christmas gnome cross stitch pattern

A gnome in a tall red hat and a green tunic stands on a little wooden stool, reaching over a table to hang a red bauble on a potted Christmas tree strung with lights. Behind him is a dark wooden kitchen: shelves of mugs, jars, baskets and wrapped gifts, a window full of stars, and a lit candle in a holder on the table.

Every square is stitched, so it finishes as a complete little room rather than a figure on bare fabric. It’s a long project for someone who loves a detailed Christmas scene. For a second full scene of the same size, see the Gingerbread Cottage in a Snowy Forest; our winter round-up has smaller holiday designs.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 21“ x 21“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 25 DMC colors, about 41 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 898 Coffee Brown – Very Dark (16,096 stitches), 310 Black (6,658) and 435 Brown – Very Light (5,668).
• 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 and full coverage. At 40,000 stitches it takes roughly 400 to 667 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour, with no bare fabric. The good news is that 40% of it is one color, the dark wood of the walls, which is relaxing stitching between the detailed parts.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Buy all ten skeins of 898 at once. 898 Coffee Brown – Very Dark covers 16,096 stitches across the walls and floor. Buying them together keeps one dye lot across the whole background.
• Stitch the gnome and the tree first. The figure, the tree and the candle are the focus. Finish them early, then fill the kitchen around them, where 898 runs in long easy rows.
• Mark the shelves before filling the wood. The mugs, jars and gifts on the shelves sit inside the brown background. Stitch those small objects before the surrounding 898, so you count them against the 310 Black shelf lines (6,658 stitches) rather than a sea of brown.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 14.3“ x 14.3“ (36.3 x 36.3 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 12.5“ x 12.5“, and on 18-count at 11.1“ x 11.1“. An 18“ x 24“ frame leaves room for a mat.

As a full scene it also frames well edge to edge in a square wooden 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