Back stitch honeycomb hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Back stitch honeycomb: preview of the stitched design

A honeycomb of nineteen six-sided cells makes one larger six-sided comb, in rows of three, four, five, four and three cells. It is a picture to practice back stitch on: the walls of the honeycomb are all brown back stitch, and that one stitch does most of the work. Seven of the cells hold a small hexagon of honey in satin stitch, orange in the middle cell and gold in the six corner cells of the comb.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

3 colors of floss and 2 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.6 × 1.4 in	4.1 × 3.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.3 × 2.2 in	5.8 × 5.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.1 × 2.9 in	7.9 × 7.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.9 × 3.6 in	9.9 × 9.1 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.4 × 5 in	13.7 × 12.7 cm	5/8 in (16 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 5/8 in (16 mm) across. Satin stitches longer than about 12 mm (just under 1/2 in) tend to work loose: divide the shape into sections, or work it in long and short stitch.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawHoney in the corner cells
DMC 922 Light CopperHoney in the middle cell
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownWalls of the honeycomb

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Satin stitch 2 strandsHoney in the corner cells, honey in the middle cell
Back stitch 2 strandsWalls of the honeycomb

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.