Snowflake with branches of leaves hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Snowflake with branches of leaves: preview of the stitched design

A snowflake has six long arms and six short arms by turns round a gold woven wheel center. Each long arm is a line of navy stem stitch carrying three pairs of blue fishbone stitch leaves as branches, the pairs smaller toward the tip. Each short arm is a navy stem stitch line that runs through a red satin stitch diamond. Every arm, long or short, ends in a teal satin stitch point. A star of six blue fishbone stitch leaves lies round the center, one leaf at the foot of each long arm.

Size and details

Easy. Stem stitch and fishbone stitch, with some short satin stitches and a woven wheel.

5 colors of floss and 4 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.6 × 1.9 in	4.1 × 4.8 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.8 in	6.1 × 7.1 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.7 in	8.1 × 9.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 4.6 in	10.2 × 11.7 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 6.5 in	14.2 × 16.5 cm	3/16 in (5 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 336 Navy BlueLong arms and short arms
DMC 322 Dark Baby BlueBranches of leaves and star of leaves
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoisePoints on the long arms and points on the short arms
DMC 304 Medium RedDiamonds on the short arms
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawSnowflake center

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 strandsLong arms, short arms
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsBranches of leaves, star of leaves
Satin stitch 2 strandsPoints on the long arms, diamonds on the short arms, points on the short arms
Woven wheel stitch 2 strandsSnowflake center

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.