Stitch a Sweet Santa with this Cross Stitch Pattern

I’m going to start this one by admitting I have no idea why this pattern is called a tiered tray tidbits cross stitch chart. This designer, Stitching Housewives, has a whole section on their storefront with more than 100 designs called tiered tray tidbits and it doesn’t explain what that means.

They’re cute designs and they’re often shown on an interesting shaped frame, or there are ribbons or leaves or other things decorating around the design, which is often mounted on a piece of fabric or paper, too.

Or, in the case of this Santa design, almost all of the above. There’s fabric of paper the stitching is mounted on, and ribbons to decorate and make a loop for hanging. And there’s a crocheted Santa face to literally top it all off.

The design itself is 56 by 42 stitches, which comes out to 4 by 3 inches, or 10 by 7.62 cm, on 28 count black Monaco as shown (you could also use 14 count Aida). The pattern uses Classic ColorWorks thread in nine colors. Other patterns of theirs indicate that DMC equivalents are included in the pattern so I assume that is the case here, too. You can also check out the conversion chart at 123 Cross Stitch if you need help translating.

I also don’t know if the Santa face crochet pattern is included in the pattern, or if there are finishing notes, though of course you can take your little Santa in different directions if you want. There are many different versions of this vintage Santa face crochet pattern on Etsy if you want to make your own.

This design would also be cute edged with pompom rick rack or a garland of mini Christmas ornaments. Instead of the ribbon and Santa face you could go with a classic pony bead wreath as your hanging loop. The possibilities are endless. And of course you can also take the poinsettia and snowflake designs from this one and use them on other projects, too.

Grab the pattern from Stitching Housewives on Etsy, and let me know if you know what tiered tray tidbits are!

[Photo: Stitching Housewives]

The cross stitcher behind the blog Sirious Stitches is quite into biscornu.

If you’re not, a quick primer: biscornu are three-dimensional cross-stitched objects with eight points, often with an indention in the middle that makes them look a bit like doughnuts without the hole. They can be just about any size and subject you can think of. They’re often used as pincushions but can also be seasonal decor or just decoration for any time of year.

I’ve got a collection of biscornu cross stitch patterns here.

Once you’ve stitched one or several (they are a little addicting) you might wonder what you can add to them to make them even more extra.

It very much depends on the design of your biscornu and the look you are going for, but Sirious Stitches has a great post all about some of the options you might consider.

I don’t want to give you the whole list because you need to go visit and see all of their great biscornu they’ve stitched, but one really easy thing that you can do with a lot of designs is take advantage of that center indent by adding a button, beads, silk flower or another embellishment.

This is great to do just with a basic button from your stash that coordinates with the design and colors of the cross stitching, but it’s extra fun if you have a button that’s on theme, such as a leaf for a fall biscornu or a flower shaped button for a floral design. Add a jingle bell to a Christmas pattern, or a charm if you don’t have a button that coordinates.

Just this one idea is sure to get you thinking about ways to embellish biscornu (not to mention other cross stitch projects) but head over to Sirious Stitches to see all of their ideas for embellishing biscornu to make these already fun projects even more fun.

Have you ever made biscornu? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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