Classic Holly Leaves Red Berries Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Reach for this one when you want the holly shape people recognise in half a second. Two spiky leaves pointing sideways, six fat berries bunched at the join, black outline holding it all together. Its the classic christmas motif stripped right down to its essentials, no extras, no decoration layered over it. I use it when customers tell me they want something traditional rather than novelty.

Density is 885 in the file, which is the highest of my holly designs because those broad flat satin leaf panels and the oversized berries need solid thread coverage to stay smooth on cotton and canvas. The leaves are genuinely big for the composition, they take up more visual space than the berries which is the opposite of the cluster version. Three colour stops: green leaves first, red berries second, black outline third. Use a medium-weight tearaway on stable cotton, cutaway if youre going on jersey or towelling.

Three sizes only for this one. Smallest 1.51 x 1.44 inches at 3,923 stitches, mid size around 2.5 inches at roughly 7,000 stitches, and largest 3.51 x 3.34 inches at 10,375 stitches. I kept it to 3 sizes because the design is simple enough that the stitch scaling holds well without needing extra breakpoints. Stitch count tops out at 10,375 which keeps your machine running quick on batch jobs.

Customers love this one for christmas gift wrapping fabric and gift bag fronts because its instantly recognisable even on a small tag or label. Hoop tight on whatever surface youre using. Last christmas I had someone order 50 cotton gift bags with this stitched on the front, and honestly the 3.5-in baseline looked good enough to sell on its own. Try it on a red cotton background too, the green really vibrates against red in an old-school holiday way.