Christmas bauble with a diamond band hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Christmas bauble with a diamond band: preview of the stitched design

A round Christmas bauble hangs from a loop over its cap. Seven tall diamonds stand point to point round its middle in satin stitch, green and red by turns, between narrow gold bands. Beyond each gold band lies a broad red band, then another narrow gold band and a solid green end, all in satin stitch. The outline of the ball and the loop are stem stitch, and the cap is satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a quarter of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

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)	1.4 × 1.8 in	3.6 × 4.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2.7 in	5.6 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 3.5 in	7.4 × 8.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 4.4 in	9.1 × 11.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 6.2 in	12.7 × 15.7 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 mm) 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenEnds of the ball and green diamonds
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawNarrow bands, hanging loop and cap
DMC 304 Medium RedBroad bands, red diamonds and outline of the ball

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 strandsEnds of the ball, narrow bands, broad bands, green diamonds, red diamonds, cap
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutline of the ball, hanging loop

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.