Six hearts snowflake hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Six hearts snowflake: preview of the stitched design

This snowflake is six hearts that stand round a French knot in the middle with their points inward, and a branched arm grows from the cleft of each. The hearts are outlined in red stem stitch, and each holds a small rose heart of satin stitch. The navy arms are back stitch, each with two pairs of side branches, and each arm begins as a short line from the navy French knot in the middle to the point of its heart.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: back stitch, stem stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

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)	1.7 × 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	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4.9 in	10.7 × 12.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 6.8 in	15 × 17.3 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)

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 336 Navy BlueArms, side branches and middle knot
DMC 304 Medium RedHearts
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseHeart middles

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 strandsArms, side branches
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsHearts
Satin stitch 2 strandsHeart middles
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.