This bright Santa totes a tiny
pillow that also can be stitched
as an ornament.

• 32-count cream Belfast linen: 10 x 15-inch piece for the Santa and 5-inch square for the pillow
• Cotton embroidery floss
• Rainbow Gallery threads: Bravo, Fuzzy Stuff, Petite Treasure Braid; Santa's beard and suit, Splendor, and Wisper
• Kreinik blending filament
• Mill Hill antique glass beads
• 7 x 12-inch rectangle of lightweight fusible interfacing
• 1/4 yard of red velveteen fabric
• 1-7/8 x 2-3/4-inch oval of medium weight cardboard
• Erasable fabric marker
• Matching sewing thread
• Just Another Button Company 5/8-inch primitive snowman
• 1-1/2 yards of 1/8-inch-diameter red twisted cording
• Crafts glue
• Polyester fiberfill
• Plastic pellets
• Small plastic bag; rubber band

1. Download the free pattern for this project. (Downloading requires Adobe Acrobat software.)

Santa pattern

Download Adobe Acrobat

2. Center and stitch the Santa on the 10 x 15-inch piece of linen and the pillow on the 5-inch square of linen. Use two plies of floss to work the cross-stitches over two threads of the fabric unless otherwise specified. Refer to the diagrams to work the remaining stitches. Use two plies of matching floss to attach the beads. Press the stitched pieces from the back.

3. Center and fuse the interfacing to the back of the stitched Santa following the manufacturer's instructions. Cut out 1/2-inch beyond the outermost stitches. Use the stitched piece as a pattern to cut a matching back from the velveteen fabric. Draw around the cardboard oval on the velveteen fabric with the erasable fabric marker. Cut out 1/2-inch beyond the drawn line.

4. With right sides together, sew the Santa front to the back along the outermost stitches, leaving the bottom edge open. Trim the seams, clip the curves, and turn right side out. Sew the snowman button to the hat. Center and hand-sew the twisted cording on the seam; trim the cording even with the bottom edge. Fold the bottom edge of the body under 1/2-inch.

5. For the base, center and glue the cardboard to the wrong side of the velveteen fabric oval. Fold the raw edges to the back and glue. Let the glue dry.

6. Stuff the body firmly with fiberfill to within 2-1/2-inch of the bottom. Fill the plastic bag with plastic pellets to fit inside the unstuffed space. Close the bag with the rubber band, forcing out as much air as possible. Insert the bag of pellets into the bottom of the body, adding fiberfill as necessary to fill the doll firmly. Hand-sew the base to the bottom of the body and the twisted cording around the base.

7. Trim the stitched pillow 1/2-inch beyond the outermost stitches. Cut a matching back from the velveteen fabric. With right sides together, sew the pillow front to the back along the outermost stitches, leaving an opening for turning. Trim the seams and turn right side out. Stuff the pillow with polyester fiberfill. Slip-stitch the opening closed.

8. Position and hand-sew the twisted cording around the edge of the pillow, overlapping the cord and forming a bow at the top center. Trim the excess cord and knot the ends. Sew the top center of the pillow to Santa's right hand.