Christmas Cow Embroidery Design, Christmas Pattern, Instant Download

Its a wee baby highland cow and its wearing a santa hat thats almost bigger than its head. Sits dead centre on the design, front hooves tucked under, that characteristic shaggy fringe flopping forward over the eyes and nose. The horns curl out sideways, lil stumpy ones, which is exactly right for a calf. Two colours only: red for the hat fill and black for everything else, which is the ink-sketch style that makes the whole thing look like it was hand-drawn with a thick dip pen.

The fur is the bit that takes the most stitches. Directional stitching runs outward in every direction from the body mass, long lines stacking to build up the shaggy texture. You can actually see the individual thread directions in the finished piece, which gives it that watercolour-sketch feel that flat fills cant replicate. Hat sits slightly tilted and the pompom sits up proud on top. Just 1 colour change the whole run, red hat first, then black body.

I drew this as the country christmas version of the cute cow designs that sell year-round. My customers who run small farm-themed gift businesses drop me a note every november asking if the holiday version is ready. So I made this one. Since then I get orders from rural gift shops and farm stay lodges wanting it on canvas totes and flannel shirts for their christmas market stalls. Definately not a city design.

Best stitched on off-white, cream, or natural cotton. The black ink-sketch effect disappears on dark fabric, so stick to pale grounds. Pop the 7.5-inch on a large cotton tote or a fleece blanket panel. Run medium cutaway behind on anything stretchy, tearaway works fine on stable woven fabric. The fur details stitch better at slower machine speeds, dont rush em.

Stitch count is 9,997 at the smallest size and 27,059 at the largest, so the fur detail builds up properly at bigger sizes. Ping me if anything looks off in your stitch file and I'll check it before your december deadline. Drop a chat message if the punch needs tweaking and Ill update it.