Begin at the top with the hat details, stitching in Rose using Continental.

For the hat background, use Wine in Basketweave.

Face & Facial Features

Start with the whites of the eyes — just 2 stitches per eye in Bleach, using Half-Cross or Continental (whichever is easiest for you).

Next, add the dark green iris — 1 central, stitch per eye — in Forest using Half-Cross or Continental. If you're using Half-Cross, you may want to stitch each iris twice, so there's enough coverage.

If you want to take the stitching to the next level, you can use French Knots for the irises instead of the Half-Cross stitch. Honestly, there’s no need to decide now, you can stitch them in Half-Cross for the time being and come back in at the end and put French Knots over the Half-Cross stitches 🙂

For the nose, use Biscuit in Half-Cross or Continental.

Stitch the cheeks and mouth in Scarlet using Continental. Make sure to get the top lip and the bottom (if there is one).

Work the skintone in Peach with Basketweave. Because Peach is a light yarn, you'll benefit from the higher coverage of Basketweave. Make sure not to pick up any fibers from the existing stitches of the facial details.

Hair & Beards

For the eyebrows and mustaches on the nutcracker faces, stitch using Elephant in Continental. This is an area where I wouldn't tie off between each section. Stitch the beards and hair, still using Elephant, but switch to Basketweave. FYI: The beards are the vertical rectangles under the mouths, exactly where nuts get cracked in the real versions of Nutcrackers.

Accessories - Gift

Start the gift by stitching the red bow in Scarlet using Continental.

For the white gift background, use Bleach in Basketweave.

Accessories - Staff

For the red top and end of the staff, stitch in Scarlet using Continental.

For the white staff, use Bleach in Continental.

Accessories - Sword

Stitch the red hilt handle of the sword in Bleach using Continental.

Work the white sword blade in Scarlet using Continental.

Accessories - Drum

Start with the red ends of the drumsticks in Scarlet using Half-Cross or Continental. You can also use French Knots here!

The drumsticks themselves are Biscuit in Half-Cross or Continental.

For white accents and the drum top, use Bleach in Continental.

The dark green color of the drum gets stitched in Forest using Continental.

Uniforms - Jackets

Stitch the rose pink jacket details in Rose using Continental.

Gold jacket details are worked in Gold using Continental.

For black jacket details, use Black in Continental.

White jacket details should be Bleach in Continental. Make sure to review the tent stitch section of the stitch guide if you want to learn how to stitch Continental vertically.

Finally, finish up the dark red jacket background using Wine in Basketweave.

Uniforms - Pants

There are three different options for the Nutcracker pants, which are mixed and matched across the canvas: 1) red and white striped, 2) solid red, 3) solid rose pink.

For white stripes on the red and white striped pants, use Bleach in Continental.

Stitch the red striped pants in Scarlet using Continental. Stitch the solid red pants in Scarlet, but switch to Basketweave.

The solid, rose pink pants get stitched in Rose with Basketweave.

Boots

For any white highlights on the boots, use Bleach and stitch in Continental.

For gold tops and all of the buttons, use Gold in Continental.

Stitch the boot background in Black using Basketweave.

Wreaths

Foliage

Stitch the mid-green leaves or branches in Fir using Basketweave. These branches are feathery, especially at the edges. It's easy to get carried away stitching. I wouldn't get too worked up if I missed a stitch here or there, or accidentally used the wrong color (like a berry, instead of a branch) in a place or two. Just make sure to go back at the end of your work to ensure all the intersections are covered.

Berries

For the lighter yellow berries, use Gold in Half-Cross or Continental and add French Knots.

You can keep it simple with the expected tent stitches, or sprinkle some French Knots amongst the greenery if those don’t make you want to scream. You don't have to turn every single dot into a French Knot, maybe just pick a few that are only 1 stitch to embellish with a little texture.

Dots

Stitch the darker yellow dots across the background in Amber using Continental. This is a place where I'd bury the thread tails for each instead of doing waste knots for every single one.

Name Area

Here's a how-to video showing how I stitch our classic lettering style in Scarlet & Wine, but the same principles apply if you’re stitching a different colorway, or even a different font!

Deep Dive: Stitching Your Name →

I stitch one letter at a time and one color at a time. I tend to tie off between letters, just to keep everything super crisp. I think it’s especially important to do this if you’re stitching a name with a white background. It’s less important if you have a dark background behind the name because the thread tails are unlikely to show through. To keep things easy for myself, I just tie off between letters 🙂

Name

You’re almost there! For the name, I actually change the order I stitch in.

I first stitch the lighter green, main color of the name in Continental, using Fir. I keep every letter separate, without long, connecting thread tails. So I would start with a new knot for each letter and tie off each yarn when I’m finished with the letter. This probably isn’t totally necessary, but I want the name to be super crisp, with no chance of thread tails showing through the white name plate.

Finally, I fill in the darker green name accents using Half-Cross to add detail, using Forest.

Nameplate

After you stitch the name, you should fill in the nameplate background.

White yarn is notoriously thin — it’s because there’s no dye to thicken the fibers — so you must stitch in Basketweave. If your yarn is looking very thin, particularly with crewel wool, you may want to add another strand of yarn.

Background