Birthday Faeries November - PDF

Birthday Faeries November Cross Stitch Pattern (KDS #1378) by Kooler Design Studio

This charming Birthday Faeries November cross stitch pattern, catalog number KDS #1378, is a downloadable PDF design from Kooler Design Studio, Inc., created by designer Barbara Baatz Hillman. Part of the beloved Kooler Classic Charts series, this whimsical embroidery project features a November birthday faerie motif, making it a delightful decorative piece perfect for seasonal celebrations, personalized gifts, or framed needlework displays. The design is rated as beginner-friendly, making it an excellent choice for those new to counted cross stitch as well as experienced stitchers looking for a rewarding, manageable project.

What Is Being Made

The finished piece is a decorative embroidery featuring a November-themed birthday faerie, stitched in counted cross stitch. With a stitch count of 71 wide by 96 high, the design produces a finished size of approximately 5 inches wide by 6¾ inches tall on 14-count fabric, making it ideally sized for framing, greeting card inserts, or small decorative displays. The design can be scaled by choosing different fabric counts:

• 10 Count: approximately 6⅜w × 8⅝h inches
• 14 Count: approximately 5w × 6¾h inches
• 16 Count: approximately 4⅜w × 6h inches
• 18 Count: approximately 3⅞w × 5¼h inches

As noted in the pattern, stitchers should add 4–6 inches to each measurement when cutting fabric to allow adequate margins for finishing and framing.

Techniques Used

This pattern employs several classic counted embroidery techniques that together create a richly detailed and dimensional finished design:

• Full Cross Stitch: The primary technique used to fill in the main areas of the faerie design, worked with 3 strands of floss for solid, even coverage.
• Quarter Stitch (¼ Stitch): Used to refine curves and fine details within the design, also worked with 3 strands, allowing for smoother outlines and more realistic shaping.
• Backstitch: Applied with either 1 or 2 strands of floss depending on the area, backstitching provides crisp outlines and fine detail lines that define the faerie's features and decorative elements.
• French Knots: Worked with 2 strands of floss, French knots add charming textural accents — commonly used for eyes, flower centers, and decorative dots — giving the design a lively, three-dimensional quality.

About These Embroidery Techniques

Counted cross stitch is a form of embroidery in which stitches are placed over a grid of evenly woven fabric, following a charted pattern where each symbol represents a specific thread color and stitch type. The combination of full cross stitches for broad coverage, quarter stitches for refined edges, backstitching for definition, and French knots for texture is a hallmark of detailed character and figure designs like this birthday faerie series.

Materials Required

Fabric

• 14-Count White Aida is the recommended base fabric as specified in the pattern. Aida cloth is a popular even-weave fabric with a clearly defined grid of holes, making it ideal for beginners and for achieving consistent stitch sizing across the design.

Floss and Thread

The pattern uses a carefully curated palette of DMC embroidery floss colors, providing a warm and richly toned color range suited to an autumnal November theme. The specific DMC colors called for include:

• DMC 433, 435, 436 — warm brown tones for depth and shading
• DMC 469, 3348 — greens for foliage and natural elements
• DMC 553 — purple/violet accent
• DMC 605 — soft pink