Holly bow wreath hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Holly bow wreath: preview of the stitched design

Two holly branches rise from a red bow and curve up either side until their tips nearly meet, leaving a small gap at the top. The middle is open for a name or a date. Three red berries sit at every pair of spiny leaves, and three more by the single leaf at the tip of each branch. The stems are brown stem stitch; the holly leaves are satin stitch, each half slanted to the center vein in a dark and a light green; the berries, the bow and its tails are red satin stitch, and the bow knot is padded satin stitch.

Size and details

Easy. Short satin stitches, no shading, with a little padded satin stitch.

4 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.8 × 1.7 in	4.6 × 4.3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.6 in	6.9 × 6.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 3.4 in	8.9 × 8.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.4 × 4.3 in	11.2 × 10.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.2 × 6 in	15.7 × 15.2 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)

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 BrownStems
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenDarker half of each holly leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each holly leaf
DMC 304 Medium RedHolly berries, bow, bow tails and bow knot

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 strandsStems
Satin stitch 2 strandsHolly leaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), holly berries, bow, bow tails
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsBow knot

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.