Christmas Lights Cat Embroidery Design, Festive Cat Machine Embroidery Pattern, Instant Download

My sister has a cat who does exactly this every christmas, the second the lights go on the tree, hes in them. This design is basically that experience as an embroidery: a round, slightly smug-looking cat sitting tangled up in a drooping loop of christmas lights, bulbs dangling off its paws and body. Five colours, the cat body, black for the outlines and face, and three bulb colours, so you get a full christmas lights glow effect without an overwhelming number of thread changes.

14,880 stitches at a density of 202, which is solidly in the complex range. The fur uses circular satin directional fill so it reads smooth and rounded rather than flat. The light cord uses a fine applique-style satin column technique, and each individual bulb is a small padded satin fill with a colour shift cap. Add a topping film on fleece or terry or the bulb fills will sink and the cord will lose its rope-like quality. Cutaway stabiliser is a must here, with the stitch density and the fine bulb details, tearaway creates too much risk of the small fill elements lifting at the edges. Digitised in the software I use and the bobbin run is smooth through the whole sequence. Run the animal fill first, then the cord, then the bulbs last, that order is baked into the file. A customer wrote me last december saying she hooped her daughters christmas pyjamas with this and the bulbs came out looking like they were actually lit, that made my week.

On dark navy or forest green fabric the light bulb colours pop the most. Stitch on jersey pyjamas with medium cutaway, or onto a cotton christmas tote with tearaway for a cleaner finish on non-stretch fabrics.