Red Panda with a Steaming Mug Cross Stitch Pattern

About this red panda cross stitch pattern

A red panda sits on the floor in a cream cable-knit sweater and rust-brown trousers, leaning forward to look at a steaming brown mug. Its orange head is bent low, with white markings around the eye and muzzle, white-edged ears and a fat striped tail curled behind. A thin curl of steam rises from the mug, and a warm sand-colored floor runs under both.

The cable pattern on the sweater and the hot drink make this a fall and winter design, one that can stay up from October to February without any holiday imagery. Pair it with the Bear Cub with a Steaming Mug and the Grumpy Koala with Coffee for a set of animals with hot drinks, or with the Red Panda with an Acorn Lantern for two red pandas. Our winter round-up has more cozy designs.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 19“ x 14“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 15 DMC colors, about 15 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 741 Tangerine – Medium (1,707 stitches), 939 Navy Blue – Very Dark (1,341) and 3856 Mahogany – Ultra Very Light (990).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate because of its many close browns. At 9,168 stitches it takes roughly 92 to 153 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour. The fur, trousers, tail stripes and mug share several browns and oranges, and the sweater’s cable texture is drawn stitch by stitch in two creams. About half the fabric (49.8%) stays bare, which saves time.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Start with the 939 outline. The dark outline and the panda’s legs are 1,341 stitches of 939 Navy Blue – Very Dark. With them in place, the large orange fill of 741 Tangerine – Medium (1,707 stitches) is simple counting.
• Sort the browns before you thread up. 975 Golden Brown – Dark, 780 Topaz – Ultra Very Dark and 921 Copper are close in color and sit next to each other on the trousers and tail. Keep them on a labeled card so you don’t swap them halfway through.
• Count the sweater cables carefully. 746 Off White (496 stitches) and 543 Beige – Ultra Very Light (405) make the knit texture, and the difference between them is small. Mark finished rows on a printed chart so a missed stitch doesn’t flatten the cables.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 12.1“ x 7.7“ (30.7 x 19.6 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 10.6“ x 6.8“, and on 18-count at 9.4“ x 6.0“. For the 14-count version, a 12“ x 16“ frame hung landscape leaves room for a mat.

It also works as a kitchen picture, hung near the kettle or coffee machine.

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