Zigzag band bauble hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Zigzag band bauble: preview of the stitched design

A round Christmas bauble hangs from a loop, drawn as two rings one inside the other, over its gold cap. Two bold zigzags run round its middle from edge to edge, bowing with the ball, the upper one red and the lower one green. Above and below them a row of eleven red drops runs between two gold bands, and beyond the outer bands the ends of the ball are solid green. The zigzags, the drops, the bands, the ends of the ball and the cap are satin stitch; the outline of the ball is red stem stitch and the two rings of the hanging loop are gold stem stitch.

Size and details

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

3 colors of floss and 2 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.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenEnds of the ball and lower zigzag
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBands, hanging loop and cap
DMC 304 Medium RedUpper zigzag, drops and outline of the ball

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 strandsEnds of the ball, bands, upper zigzag, lower zigzag, drops, cap
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutline of the ball, hanging loop

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.