Gingerbread cookie hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 2 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Gingerbread cookie: preview of the stitched design

A gingerbread cookie is cut in the shape of a little figure with a round head, arms held out and sturdy legs, and decorated with wavy icing at the wrists and ankles, a bow at the neck and two buttons. The outline is stem stitch, the icing and smile are back stitch, the bow is satin stitch and the eyes, cheeks and buttons are French knots.

Size and details

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

2 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)	1.4 × 1.8 in	3.6 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.6 in	5.3 × 6.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 3.5 in	7.1 × 8.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.5 × 4.4 in	8.9 × 11.2 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.9 × 6.2 in	12.4 × 15.7 cm	7/16 in (11 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 BrownCookie outline, smile and eyes
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseIcing at wrists and ankles, cheeks, bow, knot of the bow, and buttons

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 strandsCookie outline
Back stitch 2 strandsIcing at wrists and ankles, smile
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEyes, cheeks, knot of the bow, buttons
Satin stitch 2 strandsBow

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.