Its a chicken. Fully decked out for christmas. Warm golden-brown body with proper directional feather fills running along the breast and wing. Red wattle and comb on the head, santa hat sitting slightly askew on top. And then wrapped all the way around the body is a tangled mess of fairy lights, the wire looping in every direction with colourful round bulbs poking out in yellow, blue, red, teal and purple. The chicken looks completely unbothered by this situation. Thats what makes it funny.
Nine colours in this one, which is a lot for a chicken but the multicolour lights require individual bulb fills in 5 different colours on top of the bird body colours. At 35,424 stitches at the 7.5 build size its the most complex christmas farm animal design in my collection by stitch count. The feather fills use dense directional rows that change angle across the body to build up that layered look, kinda like the way real feathers overlap. The smallest size at 3.5 inches only needs 13,055 stitches which is very managable on any mid-range machine.
Chicken keepers and farm folk genuinely love this. I get a lot of messages from people with backyard flocks who want to put something chicken-related on christmas aprons and tees that doesnt look like a cartoon. This one has realistic enough feathers to satisfy them but the fairy lights make it funny enough that non-chicken people get it too. Really good for holiday market stall merchandise if youre in the farm or rural gift space.
Best on cream or oatmeal cotton, the golden-brown feather fills need a pale ground. Apron fronts, tote bags, flannel shirt pockets, kitchen towels. Cutaway stabiliser on knit fabrics, tearaway works on woven cotton and canvas. Slow the machine down on the light bulb fills, theres alot of colour changes and small fills that benefit from a lower speed setting.
Hoop tight on an even-weave fabric and the feather directions will stay lined up across the whole body. If any of the light bulbs stitch too small or lose shape at the edges, check bobbin tension first, that usually fixes it.
What people are using this design for
A starting point. The design works for plenty more than just this list, this is what folks have stitched it onto most.
- Backyard chicken keeper christmas apronBackyard chicken keepers who spot this on a market apron almost always stop, the recognition factor is instant for that audience.
- Farm gift shop holiday merchandise teeFarm gift shop cream tees with this on the chest move steadily through december without needing any window display.
- Country christmas market tote bagsRural market canvas totes with this design sell well because the customer already knows the joke before they even stop walking.
- Novelty kitchen tea towel for a chicken enthusiastKitchen tea towel with a fairy-light-tangled chicken on it gets left on the counter all december, becomes part of the seasonal decor.
- Flannel shirt pocket for a rural christmas outfitFlannel shirt breast pocket at petite 3.5 size, the chicken joke lands quietly enough for everyday wear without being loud.
- Poultry farmer christmas gift wrapping fabricCotton drawstring bag stitched with this and used as gift wrap for a chicken keeper, the packaging is half the present.
- Funny christmas cushion for a farmhouse kitchenFarmhouse kitchen cushion with the hen on linen, the fairy light chaos somehow works as decor when the aesthetic already leans rustic.
Dimensions
5 sizes included. Stitch counts shown for the largest colorway.
| Size (in) | Stitches |
|---|---|
| 3.50 × 3.16 in | 13,055 |
| 4.50 × 4.06 in | 17,391 |
| 5.50 × 4.96 in | 22,631 |
| 6.50 × 5.86 in | 28,806 |
| 7.50 × 6.77 in | 35,424 |
Files & Formats
Eight machine formats included in one zip. Whichever your machine reads, its in the pack.
Plus a color chart for thread matching. See full format guide.
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About the artist
Reyazul Masud Riham, hand-drawing every design on this site
Every design on Re Embroidery is hand-digitized by one person. Each file gets sketched, color-matched, and stitch-tested on real fabric before it earns a place in the shop. No team. No auto-conversion from images. Just slow, deliberate work, sometimes three or four days per design.
That's the joy I work for.
The hard part is finding my designs re-uploaded and resold elsewhere. So when you buy from Re Embroidery, you're paying one real person for the file you're about to download. That matters.
