Redwork mistletoe under a bow hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 1 color · 2 kinds of stitch

Redwork mistletoe under a bow: preview of the stitched design

This is a redwork bunch of mistletoe hanging under a bow. The bow has a round knot, two loops with a crease in each, and two tails. The branch hangs from the knot and parts in three: a short piece straight down and an arm that sweeps out to each side and parts in two again. Each of the five ends carries a pair of leaves with two berries where the leaves meet. The knot of the bow, the bow, its tails, the branch, the leaves and the berries are stem stitch; the creases of the bow and the center veins of the leaves are back stitch. It is all one red thread, with no filled shapes.

Size and details

Easy. Line stitches only, but a good deal of line to work.

1 color of floss and 2 kinds of stitch, all of them line stitches:

The stitched size, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters
3 in (8 cm)	1.9 × 1.5 in	4.8 × 3.8 cm
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.2 in	7.1 × 5.6 cm
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 2.9 in	9.4 × 7.4 cm
6 in (15 cm)	4.7 × 3.7 in	11.9 × 9.4 cm
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 5.1 in	16.5 × 13 cm

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 304 Medium RedKnot of the bow, bow, tails of the bow, berries, leaves, branch, creases of the bow and center veins of the leaves

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 strandsKnot of the bow, bow, tails of the bow, berries, leaves, branch
Back stitch 2 strandsCreases of the bow, center veins of the leaves

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.