Christmas lights edging hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Christmas lights edging: preview of the stitched design

A string of Christmas lights runs as a wavy wire of stem stitch with a satin stitch bulb hanging in its cap from every dip; the bulbs are red, gold and light blue by turns, and the wire ends in a curl at each end. Trace the band again end to end for a longer hem, towel or tablecloth.

Size and details

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

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)	2 × 0.4 in	5.1 × 1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	3 × 0.5 in	7.6 × 1.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.9 × 0.7 in	9.9 × 1.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.9 × 0.9 in	12.4 × 2.3 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.9 × 1.3 in	17.5 × 3.3 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenWire and caps
DMC 304 Medium RedRed bulbs
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold bulbs
DMC 3755 Baby BlueBlue bulbs

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 strandsWire
Satin stitch 2 strandsBulbs, caps

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.