Snowflake ring frame hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 2 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Snowflake ring frame: preview of the stitched design

Six large snowflakes and six small star flakes stand by turns in a ring, linked tip to tip. A large flake has six arms of sky blue stem stitch that spring from a navy French knot, each with a pair of lazy daisy loops and a navy French knot at its tip; a star flake is six lazy daisy loops round a navy French knot. Two arms of every large flake and two loops of every star flake lie along the ring, so that each loop comes up to the knot at the tip of an arm. The frame is the same on the left and on the right; stitch it in a hoop round a name, a date or a single letter.

Size and details

Intermediate. Dozens of French knots.

2 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters
3 in (8 cm)	1.8 × 1.9 in	4.6 × 4.8 cm
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.8 in	6.6 × 7.1 cm
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 3.8 in	8.9 × 9.7 cm
6 in (15 cm)	4.4 × 4.7 in	11.2 × 11.9 cm
8 in (20 cm)	6.1 × 6.6 in	15.5 × 16.8 cm

In a 3 or 4 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 BlueArms of the snowflakes, loops on the arms and loops of the star flakes
DMC 336 Navy BlueKnots at the tips of the arms, knots at the middle of the snowflakes and knots at the middle of the star flakes

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 strandsArms of the snowflakes
Lazy daisy stitch 2 strandsLoops on the arms, loops of the star flakes
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots at the tips of the arms, knots at the middle of the snowflakes, knots at the middle of the star flakes

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.