French knot snowflake hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 1 color · 2 kinds of stitch

French knot snowflake: preview of the stitched design

A snowflake is dotted with French knots like beads: each of its six arms has two pairs of branches that end in a knot, and three more knots sit on the arm itself, one near the middle, one between the two pairs of branches and one at the tip; one more knot sits at the very center of the snowflake. Every line is back stitch in one pale blue thread, and with 43 French knots it is good practice for making them all the same size.

Size and details

Intermediate. Dozens of French knots.

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

The stitched size, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters
3 in (8 cm)	1.6 × 1.9 in	4.1 × 4.8 cm
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.8 in	6.4 × 7.1 cm
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.8 in	8.4 × 9.7 cm
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4.7 in	10.4 × 11.9 cm
8 in (20 cm)	5.8 × 6.6 in	14.7 × 16.8 cm

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 3755 Baby BlueSnowflake arms, center knot, and knots on the arms and branches

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

Back stitch 2 strandsSnowflake arms
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsCenter knot, knots on the arms and branches

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.