DimensionsGold Collection Counted Cross Stitch 'Holy Night' Personalized Christmas Stocking Kit, 18 Count ivory Aida, 16"

I’m an avid stitcher with over 50years experience.... this is the most challenging piece I’ve ever completed. It’s beautiful... it will pluck your patience and test your determination.It’s 18count, over 47K stitches, and +500 hours of time to complete. Excellent details. Sofa design is a bit dated (design is from the ‘80s/90s). Because you’re stitching on blank canvas, rather than stamp printed, I used a needlepoint stitch technique to fill in sofa, easy adjustment.My daughter-in-law wanted a handmade Cross Stitch stocking to accompany my son’s childhood stocking. (I stitched his in 1986). It was a challenge to find a stocking pattern of similar size. What’s popular to find now are much larger hand painted Needlepoint canvas. I also needed toe to face opposite direction. Easy solution- used my iPad to photograph the stitch chart and then flipped for mirror reverse image. Using iPad photo was also an awesome tool to enlarge chart details and use highlighter to track stitch rowBecause kit is older, be gentle when pulling the threads through canvas. Be VERY thrifty with your thread clippings. If if it’s over 3”, save it. You’ll need it.If you’re willing to commit the time, it’s well worth the effort!

I would not advise anyone to purchase this counted cross stitch kit. Dimensions is no longer in business and the new company, Singer, does not have replacement floss. My kit was very short of two colors. After a couple of e-mails I received a message to replace with DMC. However because of time restraint I had already looked at a cross-company guide and purchased the DMC floss but it did not match! Even the white did not match! I ordered a second kit because now I was in panic mode. The second kit came over a week later than the delivery was given. By this time, eight weeks have gone by and it is two days before Christmas and I have no stocking done for my grandchild awaiting it. In addition some of the floss , not all, but some in the kit is of inferior quality and breaks or shreads. Amazon was excellent on tracking my purchase.

I finally finished putting the whole stocking together and absolutely love the design! It took me a while to make (since I work a lot) and I was a little intimidated about sewing it all together, but I watched a few online videos and it came out better than I expected :-DMaking the cross stitch design was very straight forward and easy (but I've been cross stitching for over 15 years). It comes out looking beautiful! Some people complain that the thread is now glued onto the swatch that comes in the kit, so to keep the thread organized I fold up each color and then loosely knot it. I also use a single hole punch at the top of each color so that I can put the thread in those holes after I pull it out to keep it all clean and organized.One thing that is disappointing is that they just give you a felt back to finish the stocking with, which is sub-par for this type of work. Instead of using just that, I went to a local fabric store and got some light blue velvet for the back of the stocking and some red satin to use as a liner. You will need a sewing machine and some basic sewing skills to finish the stocking. I am not very experienced at using the machine, so I used a few extra bits of fabric to get the right tension for the sewing. I also used the felt that they included in the kit by spraying an adhesive to the felt and then laying it onto the back of the velvet to add a bit of extra support. After watching a bunch of videos online, I finally got my stocking put together and it is now hanging proudly in my apartment :D

I just finished stitching this stocking and it turned out adorable! It took me about 3 1/2 months working on it for about 2 hours, most days. The pattern is very easy to navigate. I had more than enough of all the colors except the light silvery blue that is used for the trees and snowflakes. The only thing that I didn't like about it was that the large white areas on top and bottom were marked to be half stitches using 4 strands of white. In the picture the white areas look very white and full. When I did it with half stitches it did not look this way. The Aida cloth it comes with is light blue and so doing the half stitches in white didn't fill it in all the way. The blue showed through a lot. So it just didn't look as full (like snow) as in the picture. So I took it out and used 3 strands of white and did cross stitches instead of half stitches and it looked much better! Yes, it was more work but it looked so much better, like it looks in the picture. It is a very, very cute stocking and it really wasn't that hard. It seems like the white areas are very time consuming but you don't have to switch colors often and its just straight white. So I put a movie on and just stitched. You hardly have to pay attention to it. The hardest part was the shadows under the bears because many of the colors are very close and you have to switch threads often. The white sections really weren't that bad. This was my first large project and it wasn't that bad.

It was good to do. But...nowhere near enough threads, and I didnt have to.oull any out either, so not enough from the start. All other kits form different manufacturer state that they will send extra thread if required. Instructions state to contact them if run out if thread as they are their own and others dont match. I contacted them and they sent me a chart with DMC and Anchor comparables!! Not at all.impressed. especially as one was nowhere near a match and it's in a really obvious place, and also 2 different colours have the same comparable number yet nothing alike. The person I gave it to was none the wiser but I was and very disappointed.

I've used dimensions kits before and they are always lovely quality. This kit has lots of half cross stitches (all the blue background and shading is half stitch) so it builds up quickly. As I want to make a useable stocking rather than just a decorative piece I line mine and use a fabric backing rather than the felt provided but that is an easy substitution to do once your kit is sewn and that is orsonal choice on my part rather than a criticism. I would recommend dimensions kits as they use good quality threads and fabric as well as having detailed clear instructions.

I’m part way through stitching this. I’m enjoying the bright colours and love the design.I’m not overly keen on having to decide where each colour is meant to start and stop. The printed on the canvas is not straight at the top of the design so I’ve had to improvise. Hopefully once it’s complete no one will notice or care.I do love the feel of the fabric created but having to use 6 strands of thread can make it tricky to get all stitches perfectly flat.

Stockings simple to make, would suit novice sewer or older child. Nice patterns on felt and lots of thread in pack. Unfortunately the pack I received was missing 5 of the back pieces for the stockings but I made them from felt I already had. Would have been a real problem if you didn't have spare felt of your own. A bit smaller than I had hoped but maybe I didn't check sizes before I bought this.

Almost finished this cross stitch - really fun pattern. Nice and easy to follow, with large sections of the same colour so quick to complete (it's taken me just over a week). It comes with white felt but I'll probably use another material to make the stocking. This is my first attempt at a stocking (have been cross stitching for years) and I highly recommend you give this a go, even if you're a beginner. It's bright and colourful, I've really enjoyed creating these cute little snowmen.