Honeycomb snowflake hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Honeycomb snowflake: preview of the stitched design

Seven cells of a honeycomb in teal back stitch make the middle of this snowflake, one cell in the middle and six round it, with a solid hexagon of sky blue satin stitch in each. From every corner between two outer cells an arm of navy back stitch runs out, six in all, each with three pairs of branches.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

3 colors of floss and 2 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 × 1.9 in	4.3 × 4.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.9 in	6.4 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.9 in	8.6 × 9.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4.9 in	10.7 × 12.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 6.8 in	15 × 17.3 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 mm) across. Satin stitches longer than about 12 mm (just under 1/2 in) tend to work loose: divide the shape into sections, or work it in long and short stitch.

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

What you need

DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseHoneycomb
DMC 3755 Baby BlueHexagon in each cell
DMC 336 Navy BlueArms and side 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 strandsHoneycomb, arms, side branches
Satin stitch 2 strandsHexagon in each cell

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.