Dimensions Santa Claus Gold Collection Personalizable Counted Cross Stitch Christmas Stocking Kit, 16" Long, 16 Cnt. Dove Grey Aida

Not as vibrant as the photo, but plenty of threads leftover.

This kit is lovely. The pattern is beautiful and the thread is nice to work with. This will take a very long time to complete. It took me around a year to stitch (a few hours a night on and off). I didn’t like the finishings that came with the kit. After so much time stitching it just felt cheap. I chose to get a backing fabric and lining fabric and made piping to outline the stocking. This was a labour of love and I wouldn’t recommend this to any but those who have some experience embroidering. I would also recommend purchasing a scroll frame as this is quite cumbersome in a hoop.

This is a gorgeous stocking! There are many shade variations which make it beautifully detailed. I have done an extensive amount of cross stitching and this was a bit of a challenge with the small stitches and intricate color variations. It really keeps you on your toes and I would not recommend it for beginners. In addition to the cross stitches, there are half stitches, back stitches, French knots, couching and sequin attachment. Also, not only do you use two stands, there are half stitches requiring two, three, four and even five strands. This leads to my only complaint, and that is I ran out of numerous strands of the frequently used colors such as green shades, burgundy, etc. Using five strands quickly depletes the thread even though I followed directions and didn't waste any thread. Luckily, I was able to find comparable thread to use. Also, there are stitches that require a mixture of two colors, which really adds to the beautiful detailing.The picture I took shows my work for 3.5 months, working numerous hours per day. I have to finish the top with name as soon as the baby is born, as well as the outlining and details, which will make this even more gorgeous! Also, as many people have stated, the white felt backing included in the kit is poor quality. After spending so much time creating this beautiful piece, backing it with this cheap, white felt would not do it any justice. I bought a nicer quality red felt for the back (shown in the picture), which will compliment the beauty.The instructions suggest separating each six-strands into single strands. I thought it was a waste of time and it was so much easier to separate as needed, rather than putting single strands together. I also put each color in an envelope labelled with the number. Filed numerically, it was organized and much easier to use.

Me gustó mucho. Trae todo para armar la bota y las instrucciones son muy claras aunque solo vienen en inglés. También incluyen diagramas e imágenes que facilitan la labor. Quedé muy contenta

Pros: This was my first big needlepoint project, and I love the result! As a beginner I found the patterns and instructions to be very clear. The kit includes a needle and everything, there was plenty of thread and the colors turned out just darling!Cons: The print was a little bit crooked so I did some corrections with my stitching to keep straight lines. I decided in the end to not do a top stitch for the name, which resulted in me pulling out a lot of the white and light blue polka dots. Would recommend finding an alphabet pattern and stitching the name in at the beginning! The felt included for the backing is pretty cheap, but I plan on having my stocking professionally finished so that’s not a problem for me.