Christmas tree with garlands hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Christmas tree with garlands: preview of the stitched design

A Christmas tree stands as five green bands under a gold star, darker and lighter green by turns. Between each two bands a red garland swags from side to side of the tree and carries a gold bead on every cusp, ten beads in all. The bands, the garlands, the beads, the star and the broad brown trunk are all satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

5 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.2 × 1.4 in	3 × 3.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.9 × 2.1 in	4.8 × 5.3 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.5 × 2.9 in	6.4 × 7.4 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.1 × 3.6 in	7.9 × 9.1 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.3 × 5 in	10.9 × 12.7 cm	3/4 in (19 mm)

In a 6 or 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) or more 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 GreenDarker green bands of the tree
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter green bands of the tree
DMC 304 Medium RedGarlands
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBeads of the garlands and star on the tree
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownTrunk of the tree

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 strandsBands of the tree, garlands, beads of the garlands, star on the tree, trunk of the tree

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.