Every year my siblings and I, instead of buying each other presents, create ornaments. Last year I drew my brother's name and I embroidered this nutcracker ornament for him.
When we all have our own families it will be special to have these handmade ornaments to decorate our trees.
Here is the embroidery pattern I created + instructions.
Click on the pattern below and print (you can probably size it in your printer window).
For this project I used DMC cotton embroidery floss in several shades of red (this gave it a nice depth).
The stitches I used are as follows:
Hat, jacket, and boot outline: couching
Hat details: stem stitch + 1 french knot (for the swirly design), chain stitch, and a woven wheel on top.
Boot details: stem stitch + 1 detached chain stitch per boot.
Eyebrows and mustache: leaf stitch
Eyes and nose: split stitch
Teeth: stem and back stitch (go ahead and improv in this area, it's so tiny)
Collar: trellis stitch (tiny but simple)
Face, arms, legs, and hand outline: stem stitch
Shoulder pads and cuffs: padded satin stitch
Hair and beard: heavy chain stitch
Buttons: french knot
Inside of legs and arms: seeding
These are all crewel stitches so they're not too complicated. You could of course choose your own stitches!
My finished embroidery measures slightly over 4 in.
As with most embroidery the rule is start with the the areas that are farthest back. A good place to start would be the collar, teeth, shoulder pads, or anywhere there is couching.
If you want your finished embroidery to measure 4 in. then use a very small needle and only several strands of DMC floss.
Enjoy!
xo, Abby
