Iced gingerbread heart hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 5 kinds of stitch

Iced gingerbread heart: preview of the stitched design

A gingerbread heart is edged in brown chain stitch, and inside the edge runs a border of piped icing: red scallops in stem stitch with white French knot pearls along them, twenty-eight in all. Three daisies on green stem stitch stalks fan from the point of the heart, two red and one pink, each of eight satin stitch petals round a white French knot, with a fishbone stitch leaf on each of the two outer stalks.

Size and details

Easy. Line stitches and loops and French knots, with some short satin stitches.

5 colors of floss and 5 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.7 × 1.5 in	4.3 × 3.8 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.2 in	6.4 × 5.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3 in	8.4 × 7.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 3.7 in	10.4 × 9.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.8 × 5.2 in	14.7 × 13.2 cm	1/4 in (6 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 BrownEdge of the cookie
DMC 304 Medium RedPiped scallops and petals of the two red daisies
DMC B5200 Snow WhitePearls of icing and centers of the daisies
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenStalks and leaves
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RosePetals of the pink daisy

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

Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsEdge of the cookie
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsPiped scallops, stalks
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsPearls of icing, centers of the daisies
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaves
Satin stitch 2 strandsPetals of the daisies

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.