Elegant Holiday Calligraphy with Holly Leaves Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Drew this one up for the customer who keeps asking for something written, not illustrated, a word design not a picture. The script is proper flowing cursive, the kind with long ascenders and descenders that swoop below the baseline, and the holly clusters sit to the left and right of the text body. Three berries on each side in a tight grouping, forest green leaves with pointed tips behind them. Subtle. Nothing that shouts.

Four sizes starting at 2.21 inches wide and going up to 3.68 inches at the widest. Heights run 4.5 to 7.51 inches, so its a taller design than it is wide, which is why it suits narrow placements like napkin corners or pocket areas well. Stitch counts come in at 7,697 at the smallest to 12,734 at the full size. Im running this through Wilcom EmbroideryStudio at density 461, and the script columns carry a directional variation to pull the shine from rayon thread. Three colours total, forest green for the script and leaves, crimson for the berries, and a lighter green outline on the leaves that pulls them apart from the script colour visually.

Tested this on ivory linen last november and the result suprised me. A customer ordered the 3.68-inch size for a set of ivory dinner napkins and sent photos back, the forest green read like it belonged on the fabric from the start. Realy natural. Stitch it on ivory, cream, or white linen for the best contrast, the darker the thread the more the script pops against the pale base.

Use a tearaway stabiliser on woven linen, the density is low enough that cutaway would be overkill. Skip the topping on smooth linen. Pick the 2.21-inch file for a small napkin corner, it fits in a 3x3 hoop and wont crowd the fabric edge. Avoid on pile fabrics, the script hairlines wont read clean on fleece or velvet without topping.