Fir tree in five tiers hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Fir tree in five tiers: preview of the stitched design

A fir tree stands upright on a short trunk. It is built of five tiers of boughs, each wider than the one above. Each tier ends below in a row of scallops, and every tier but the lowest overlaps the top of the one beneath. The tiers are light green and dark green by turns, with light green at the tip and at the foot. The brown trunk shows under the lowest tier. The tiers of boughs are long and short stitch and the trunk is satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch over much of the design.

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	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2 × 2.6 in	5.1 × 6.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.6 × 3.4 in	6.6 × 8.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.3 × 4.3 in	8.4 × 10.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.6 × 6 in	11.7 × 15.2 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 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter green tiers of boughs
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenDarker green tiers of boughs
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownTrunk

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

Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsTiers of boughs
Satin stitch 2 strandsTrunk

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.