Candy cane heart with holly hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Candy cane heart with holly: preview of the stitched design

Two candy canes lean together to make a heart, their crooks at the top and their feet meeting at the point, round a sprig of holly: two leaves rising from three red berries. The candy canes are striped in red and white satin stitch inside red stem stitch edges; the holly leaves are satin stitch, each half slanted to the center vein in its own green, and the berries are satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a fifth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop.

4 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)	1.7 × 1.6 in	4.3 × 4.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.4 in	6.4 × 6.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.1 in	8.4 × 7.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 3.9 in	10.7 × 9.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.8 × 5.5 in	14.7 × 14 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

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, edges of the candy canes and holly berries
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenDarker half of each holly leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each holly leaf

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, holly leaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), holly berries
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.