Birthday cake with five candles hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Birthday cake with five candles: preview of the stitched design

A birthday cake sits on a cake stand, seen from the front, with five candles in a row, each outlined in stem stitch with three bands of satin stitch and a satin stitch flame. The cake is outlined in stem stitch, with a border of twelve icing scallops under its top edge and twelve shells along its foot, and between them six swags of chain stitch meet at five gold French knots, the pearls of the icing.

Size and details

Easy. Stem stitch, chain stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches.

4 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)	1.6 × 1.4 in	4.1 × 3.6 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.1 in	6.1 × 5.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 2.8 in	8.1 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.5 in	10.2 × 8.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 4.9 in	14.5 × 12.4 cm	5/16 in (8 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 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseOutlines of the candles, bands of the candles and swags
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawFlames and pearls
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseCake outline, icing border and shell border
DMC 414 Dark Steel GrayStand outline

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 strandsOutlines of the candles, cake outline, icing border, shell border, stand outline
Satin stitch 2 strandsBands of the candles, flames
Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsSwags
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsPearls

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.