The christmas typography is kinda the whole design and its stacked so you feel it before you fully read it. Small red script at the top reads 'Im not an', then this enormous dark green satin-filled elf letter block in the middle that practically takes up half the design space, a curly elf hat perched right on top with a little tipped end. Below that 'Im just' in lighter letters and then the word short in big chunky green block letters at the base. Elf legs in red poke out the bottom like the little guy is standing behind the whole quote.
Two colours only: dark green and red. Just 1 colour change and the whole thing stitches out in sequence, no fussy thread swaps mid-project. Five sizes from 3.5 inches wide up to 7.5 inches. Density is on the lighter side at 435 per cm2 so its not heavy on a mid-weight cotton shirt, the machine moves through the satin fills without too much drag. Wilcom digitising kept the satin columns on the big centre letters properly directional so they dont look flat or lumpy.
Im gonna be honest, this one sells every december without me doing anything special to promote it. Short people really really love it, I get orders from sisters buying it for brothers, mums buying it for daughters, friends making the whole office matching christmas shirts.
Stitch on white or cream cotton for the cleanest colour payoff. The red and dark green combination looks really crisp on natural and light grey fabric too. Avoid dark fabric because the red reads muddy and you lose the contrast between the two colours. Use a tearaway stabiliser on woven cotton shirts. Hoop the full 7.5-inch version on a tee front panel and the short block letters at the base sit right above the hem area, perfect placement.
Pick the smaller 3.5-inch for a christmas stocking, a canvas gift bag, or a festive tea towel. The largest is great on a hoodie or sweatshirt where you want the whole funny phrase to hit from a distance. Send me a message if you need a version without the elf accessories and Ill customise it for ya.
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.
- Christmas family matching shirts for short relativesStitch the 7.5-inch on a white cotton tee and gift it to the shortest person in the family for christmas morning.
- Funny office christmas party teesUse the medium size for a funny office christmas party shirt that isnt offensive but gets a laugh every time.
- Personalised christmas stockingsEmbroider the 3.5-inch on a red velvet stocking cuff in white thread for a colour-flip take on this design.
- Festive canvas gift bagsPop the 5-inch on a natural canvas gift bag and use it as a reusable christmas wrapping for the whole season.
- Holiday tea towels and kitchen linensStitch on a cream flour sack towel for a kitchen set gift that works whether or not the recipient is actually short.
- Kids christmas sweatshirt with a cheeky messageUse the smaller size on a kids christmas hoodie so the SHORT lands right above the kangaroo pocket, kinda perfect layout.
- Secret santa gift on a ready-made toteGrab the design for a secret santa tote bag and fill it with chocolate, the joke lands before they even open it.
Dimensions
5 sizes included. Stitch counts shown for the largest colorway.
| Size (in) | Stitches |
|---|---|
| 89.1 × 74.1 mm | 8,057 |
| 114.5 × 95.2 mm | 10,809 |
| 139.9 × 116.3 mm | 13,823 |
| 165.3 × 137.5 mm | 17,053 |
| 190.7 × 158.6 mm | 20,411 |
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.
