Iced gingerbread man hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Iced gingerbread man: preview of the stitched design

A plump gingerbread man, the same left and right, is edged in brown chain stitch. A band of white icing crosses each wrist and each ankle, and he wears a red bow tie over three round red buttons, all in satin stitch. His eyes are two white French knots and his smile is a curve of white stem stitch.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: stem stitch, chain stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

3 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)	1.4 × 1.8 in	3.6 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.7 in	5.3 × 6.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 3.6 in	7.1 × 9.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.5 × 4.5 in	8.9 × 11.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.9 × 6.3 in	12.4 × 16 cm	7/16 in (11 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 B5200 Snow WhitePiped cuffs, smile and eyes
DMC 304 Medium RedButtons, bow tie and knot of the bow tie
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownEdge of the cookie

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 strandsPiped cuffs, buttons, bow tie, knot of the bow tie
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsSmile
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEyes
Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsEdge of the cookie

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.