Pine Needle Holly Garland Embroidery Design, Christmas Mantle Border

Heres the pine needle holly garland, four sizes plus 3 colours, the giveaway is the needles. Loose, wispy, feathery, alot more like real pine boughs than a tight clipped swag. Its got that hand-cut bough look. The needles drift out from the centre in long sprays where dark holly leaves anchor the middle, and red berries scatter along the line.

Light green pine takes the most stitches at 1,907 on the smallest. The holly lands at 1,309 cause those leaves get solid satin coverage. Berries pop at 601 in red, theres the punch ya see first. Worth noting the holly stitch counts way heavier than the lighter evergreen swag from the same collection which was only 272. The leaves'll read crisp from twenty feet back.

This ones for the woodsy crowd. I get messages every year from cabin folks. One customer ordered five back to back, said shes stitching a long band that ran across the front of her family stocking holder. She lives in a cabin in vermont, has eight stockings hanging off the mantle, and wanted the design to repeat across the band like a real pine bough draped over the fireplace. Sent me a photo christmas morning, looked like a hallmark card ya know.

Sizes span 0.77 by 4.50 inches at the smallest, with the largest reaching 1.28 by 7.50. Theyre stitched directional so the needles always sweep outward. Best on midweight cotton canvas, linen ticking, burlap-blend trims, wool felt. Skip lightweight knits cause the dense holly section'll tunnel without proper backing. Tuck a cutaway under the holly knot, tearaway works fine for the pine ends. Density hits about 641 per square inch and you wanna go slow on the foot speed.