Peacock

A free peacock chart by Faby Reilly, originally published in The World of Cross Stitching issue 267 and now free to download from Gathered. The download buttons above link to the PDF chart directly and to the original article.

The design is a peacock in profile, head and neck worked in stacked blues from deep navy through bright turquoise, set against a full circular fan of tail feathers — lime and grass green, with a teal-and-blue eye in each one. The whole thing reads as a round medallion, which is what makes it work as a small standalone piece rather than something that needs a border.

The detail that carries it is the backstitching: a hard black outline around the head, neck and beak, and then the crest — five fine backstitched stalks springing off the top of the head, each tipped with its own little bloom. Almost none of that is cross stitch. Take the backstitch away and you’ve got a blue blob on a green circle; put it back and you’ve got a bird.

Stitched on a mystery aida out of the stash — pale, slightly grey-green, no idea of the count. The original calls for 28ct Zweigart Trento evenweave with seed beads and sequins in the tail; I went without the beads and let the eyes carry it.

Started June 15, 2026 for a Frogwarts retreat prompt, set aside while I stitched the Frogwarts Year 7 band itself, and picked back up the day that finished. Completed July 10, 2026 — 962 stitches.