Ice shard snowflake hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Ice shard snowflake: preview of the stitched design

Twelve solid points of ice in sky blue satin stitch make this snowflake. Six stand round a teal French knot at the middle, and one sits on the end of each of the six arms. The arms are navy stem stitch, each with two pairs of branches between its two points.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: short satin stitches, no shading; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

3 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)	1.7 × 1.9 in	4.3 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.9 in	6.4 × 7.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.9 in	8.6 × 9.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4.9 in	10.7 × 12.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 6.8 in	15 × 17.3 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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.
In a 3 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 BluePoints of ice
DMC 336 Navy BlueArms and side branches
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseMiddle 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

Satin stitch 2 strandsPoints of ice
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsArms, side branches
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsMiddle 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.