Candy cane heart with a bow hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Candy cane heart with a bow: preview of the stitched design

Two candy canes are set as a heart, a mirror pair, their crooks meeting at the top and their feet at the point. Each cane is outlined in red stem stitch and striped in red and white satin stitch. Where the feet meet, the canes are tied with a green bow that has two full loops and two long swallow tails, in satin stitch laid across the ribbon.

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)	1.3 × 1.7 in	3.3 × 4.3 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2 × 2.6 in	5.1 × 6.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.7 × 3.5 in	6.9 × 8.9 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.4 × 4.4 in	8.6 × 11.2 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.7 × 6.1 in	11.9 × 15.5 cm	13/16 in (21 mm)

In a 6 or 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) or more 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 B5200 Snow WhiteWhite stripes of the candy canes
DMC 304 Medium RedRed stripes of the candy canes and edges of the candy canes
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenTails of the bow, loops of the bow and knot of the bow

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 strandsStripes of the candy canes, tails of the bow, loops of the bow, knot of the bow
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsEdges of the candy canes

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.