Christmas Gnome Family Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Spent a good while getting the hat stripes on these 4 lads to sit right in satin. Four gnomes lined up shoulder to shoulder, shortest to tallest, which gives the row a nice rhythm when you look at it. The two on the left have long white braided beards and red bow ties at the base. The two on the right have round bodies too but the third gnome's got a big full white beard instead of braids, and the fourth is the tallest with a long striped candy-cane style hat in pale sage and ivory and green mittens.

Hats are where most of the stitching lives. The tallest hat on the far left is red and white spiraling stripes in satin, twisting up to a point. Next hat has a shorter squatter shape in green with cream stripes. The third is a red polka-dot hat with a white pom at the tip. The rightmost is a long pale sage stripe angled slightly left like its heavy at the top. Bodies are all the same basic round brown shape with no arms visible on most, and thats fine because the hat work's carrying the whole design. Feet are just two small dark brown rounded bumps poking out below each gnome.

This runs 7 colors and comes in 5 sizes, widths from just over 2 inches up to 4.32 inches, heights from 3.5 up to 7.5. Stitch count goes from about 13k at the small end to roughly 30k at the largest. Its a tidy count for a 7-color design. A customer dropping personalised stockings told me last december she stitches the whole row across the stocking cuff at the 4-inch wide size and it fits perfectly with a bit of room either side. Shes done three batches now and says its her bestseller every year.

Best on white, cream or pale grey fabric so the red and green hats pop cleanly. Medium weight woven cotton, quilting fabric, felt panels or fleece all work. Avoid busy prints underneath because the gnome bodies are already full of detail and you dont want it competing with the background. Use a light to medium cutaway stabiliser. Topping helps on toweling or velour to stop the pom detail sinking into the pile. If youre using velour, float a water-soluble topping layer and itll come out sharp.