Iced gingerbread star hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Iced gingerbread star: preview of the stitched design

A gingerbread star with rounded points is edged in brown chain stitch. Inside the edge runs a border of piped icing, white scallops in stem stitch with a white French knot pearl at every cusp of the scallops, twenty-five in all. In the middle a flower of five slim red satin stitch petals stands round a white French knot, with a small pink satin stitch heart between each two petals.

Size and details

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

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)	1.7 × 1.6 in	4.3 × 4.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.4 in	6.4 × 6.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.2 in	8.4 × 8.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4 in	10.7 × 10.2 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.8 × 5.6 in	14.7 × 14.2 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 3781 Dark Mocha BrownEdge of the cookie
DMC B5200 Snow WhitePiped scallops, pearls of icing and center of the flower
DMC 304 Medium RedPetals of the flower
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseHearts between the petals

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
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsPearls of icing, center of the flower
Satin stitch 2 strandsPetals of the flower, hearts between the petals

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.