Inside: Stunning & fresh Christmas tree embroidery patterns.
Honestly, as much as I love embroidery for year round hobbies and events, nothing says Christmas to me more than embroidery does. Maybe it’s because my mother and grandmother go overboard with the embroidered Christmas decor every year, and have since I was a child. Or maybe it’s because it has such a homey kind of feel to it, and Christmas always feels homey, that I associate them. Maybe it’s both. Who knows!
But all I know is my home is always littered with beautiful scenes of Christmas villages, snowmen, and Christmas trees. So today we’re going to focus on Christmas tree embroidery, and my 17 favorite patterns I could find online for you to try.
No matter what you plan to do with them, whether decorate the home or make a little embroidered sweatshirt to add to your festive wear, you’ll love these!
Why Christmas Trees?
The Christmas tree is a tradition as old as time, that started off simply as home decor!
There’s no specific symbolism of the Christmas tree being related to Christmas itself, only old traditions made new.
It was already common in Europe for people to decorate their homes with fir trees. Apparently they saw it as spiritual protection. Fir trees were thought to ward off evil spirits, so it wasn’t uncommon to place them in your home to protect your family. Especially in the winter when they grew abundantly.
As it became increasingly popular to celebrate Christmas and observe the religious holiday, the regular winter traditions began to take their place as Christmas traditions instead.
The fir tree being decorated was a tradition added later on, but the Christmas tree itself has been a centerpiece for Christmas celebrations since the 1700’s!
The acceptance of them went back and forth because of religious and pagan belief clashes, but it only went uphill for the Christmas tree from there. And now they are what they are for us annually, and we love them dearly.
So start stitching your own Christmas trees and get excited for this Christmas season! You can never have too many Christmas trees around.
That’s just one woman’s opinion though.
Common Stitch: The Stem Stitch
Each pattern you do may call for a different style of stitch or it might leave it up to you. But one I commonly see for trees is the stem stitch! So let’s do a quick little tutorial on it.
The stem stitch is one of your easiest little texture tricks to give extra character to any of your straight stitches.
To start, create a forward stitch a little bit farther apart than your regular forward stitch.
Before you pull the thread all the way through, come up from the bottom of the fabric in the middle of the stitch length. Pull the thread through and go forward a normal stitch length.
When bringing that thread up, come up through the same hole that your first stitch length went DOWN through. These shouldn’t be looping around each other, but the stitch coming up in the middle of the previous should be coming out the side. See video tutorial for reference.
The stem stitch is an easy one to give the illusion of fir branch leaves and texture, and I know you’ll find some creative way to utilize it to make your work pop even more!
Even with the kinds of stitches you’re told you should use for each of these, you can totally get creative to make it your own. Have fun with it, and make this Christmas tree as personalized as your real one.
Christmas Tree Embroidery Patterns
These patterns should hopefully make your holidays merry and bright! I love each of these patterns and how much they channel the spirit of Christmas. Sometimes when the decor goes up a little too early, it’s hard to feel as Christmassy as you want to, because it’s become mainstream.
As it’s getting closer, if you’re struggling with feeling all the Christmas feels, don’t worry. Whip one of these out and the season will feel as good as new!
Try these and place them all over your home, or give them as gifts to your friends and family. Either way, you’re going to love these Christmas tree embroidery ideas.
1. Red And Green
2. Minimal Detail
3. Random Little Trees
4. Fireplace Scene
5. Red Ornaments
Embroidery Designs
These designs are so cute, the sparkle and shine in them and the little cozy details that just make you feel like it’s Christmas are so lovely, I can’t wait to snag a couple of these and put them all around my house this year.
What’s your design style?
One of my favorite things about Christmas decor is that there are a hundred ways to make it your own style. We’ve seen Malibu Barbie Christmases, modern white Christmases, and and traditional cozy cabin.
There’s a Christmas tree design for you, whatever you need for your Christmas aesthetic.
6. Christmas Characters
7. Ice Skating
8. Textured
9. Triangle Trees
Christmas Tree Embroidery Hoop
Hoops are such a cute way to frame your work. And super authentic!
When the bohemian trend was everywhere, the best thing to do was always leave your embroidery in a hoop, or even use one to hang something that wasn’t even embroidery.
I think you’ll love the way that these all look, and you’ll want to hang your Christmas tree embroidery in a hoop, give your embroidery gifts in a hoop, and decorate everything with embroidery hoops.
If you’re not sure how that would look, here’s some inspo to using an embroidery hoop as decor, and love every second of it.
When you leave your piece in the hoop you made it in, it leaves a finished look on the project. Check it out.
10. Snowy Ground
11. Minimalist
12. Super Full Tree
13. Tree Outline
Christmas Ideas
There are a million ways to embroider something in the Christmas spirit. Here are some trees that I think you will enjoy working on, with some other Christmassy elements too!
14. Deers
15. Owl
16. Beaded Negative Space
17. Decorated Ideas
Christmas trees are the perfect imagery for Christmas embroidery! They can be minimalist, they can be super fun and funky, or they can be right in the middle, a beautiful classy Christmas scene.
Using these patterns on jackets, sweatshirts, pillows, hand towels… You name it and the possibilities are literally endless! There is no such thing as something that can’t be embroidered (in my book!) so get to stitching these Christmas tree embroidery patterns anywhere and everywhere your little artistic heart desires.
The other fun part about Christmas embroidery is that even if you pick a minimalist pattern, you still have so much creative freedom. Add beads if you want! Add glitter if you want! Christmas is all pretty extra and glitzy, so the world is your oyster. Make these Christmas tree patterns what you want them to be.
Ready to jump into more? Try these!
I’m Victoria Hudgins and I believe in learning embroidery to express all the fun and joy that is within you. With the right instruction you can be sure your next threaded project is one you’ll love to keep or gift.