Birthday cake hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Birthday cake: preview of the stitched design

A round cake sits on a plate, seen a little from above, with icing running down its side, a row of seven dots round its foot and three striped candles alight on top. The cake, plate and candles are stem stitch outlines, the icing edge and candle stripes are back stitch, the flames are satin stitch and the row of dots is French knots.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: stem stitch, back stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

3 colors of floss and 4 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 × 1.5 in	4.1 × 3.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.2 in	6.1 × 5.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 2.9 in	8.1 × 7.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.6 in	10.2 × 9.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 5.1 in	14.2 × 13 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)

In a 3 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

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

What you need

DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownPlate, well of the plate, cake, candles and wicks
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseTop of the cake, icing drips, icing dots and candle stripes
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawFlames

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsPlate, cake, top of the cake, candles
Back stitch 2 strandsWell of the plate, icing drips, candle stripes, wicks
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsIcing dots
Satin stitch 2 strandsFlames

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.