Christmas bauble with a snowflake hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Christmas bauble with a snowflake: preview of the stitched design

A round Christmas bauble hangs from a loop over its cap, with a ring inside its edge and a six-armed snowflake in the middle. Each arm of the snowflake carries two pairs of loops and a loop at its tip, and six more loops stand round the middle knot between the arms. The ball, the hanging loop and the arms are stem stitch, the ring and the cap are satin stitch, every loop of the snowflake is one lazy daisy stitch and the middle is a French knot.

Size and details

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

3 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)	1.4 × 1.8 in	3.6 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2.7 in	5.6 × 6.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 3.5 in	7.4 × 8.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 4.4 in	9.1 × 11.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 6.2 in	12.7 × 15.7 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 BlueRing and middle knot
DMC 336 Navy BlueArms of the snowflake, loops of the snowflake and ball
DMC 414 Dark Steel GrayHanging loop and cap

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 strandsRing, cap
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsArms of the snowflake, ball, hanging loop
Lazy daisy stitch 2 strandsLoops of the snowflake
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.