Cat Garden in DMC - PAT0310 - Downloadable PDF

Cat Garden Embroidery Pattern by Holly Maguire x DMC (PAT0310)

This free downloadable embroidery pattern is a charming collaboration between illustrator Holly Maguire and DMC, presented under the title Cat Garden (also known by its French title, Chat de Jardin). The finished design measures approximately 17.3 cm x 18.8 cm and depicts a whimsical cat set within a garden scene, rendered in a rich and varied colour palette. It is rated as an intermediate level project, making it an ideal step forward for embroiderers who are comfortable with basic stitches and ready to explore more expressive hand embroidery techniques.

What Is Being Made

The finished piece is a hand-embroidered textile artwork featuring a decorative cat and garden motif. Designed to be worked on fabric using surface embroidery techniques, this pattern is well suited to display as a framed piece or hoop art. The illustrated colour guide and technical chart included in the PDF provide a clear visual reference for placing each colour and stitch across the design.

Techniques and Stitches Used

The Cat Garden pattern incorporates a variety of classic hand embroidery stitches, giving the finished piece texture, depth, and visual interest. Intermediate embroiderers will find this a rewarding project for building and practising a well-rounded stitch vocabulary.

• Backstitch (Point arrière) — A fundamental outlining stitch that creates clean, continuous lines. It is commonly used to define edges, add detail, and create fine linework within embroidery designs.
• French Knot (Point de noeud) — A dimensional stitch that creates small, raised dots on the fabric surface. French knots are often used to suggest texture, such as flower centres, animal fur, or decorative accents.
• Long and Short Stitch (Passé empiétant) — A shading technique where alternating long and short stitches are layered to blend colours smoothly. This stitch is ideal for filling larger areas with a naturalistic, painterly effect, and is particularly effective for rendering fur, petals, and foliage.
• Split Stitch (Point fendu) — A versatile stitch used for both outlining and filling. Each new stitch pierces through the centre of the previous one, creating a neat, rope-like line that follows curves gracefully.
• Chain Stitch (Point de chaînette) — A looped stitch that forms a linked chain. It is excellent for bold outlines, decorative borders, and filling areas with a slightly textured surface.

Materials Required

The pattern calls for DMC Mouliné Spécial Art 117 embroidery thread, which is DMC's iconic six-strand divisible cotton floss, renowned for its wide colour range, consistent quality, and vibrant, colourfast dyes. The design uses 3 strands throughout and requires 10 individual colour shades, each requiring just one skein. The specific DMC thread colour codes used are:

• DMC 310 — Black
• DMC 646 — Dark Beaver Grey
• DMC 06 — Medium Light Mocha Brown
• DMC 913 — Medium Nile Green
• DMC 894 — Very Light Carnation
• DMC 966 — Medium Baby Green
• DMC 666 — Bright Red
• DMC 17 — Light Yellow Plum
• DMC 700 — Bright Green
• DMC BLANC — White

A No. 12 embroidery needle is recommended for working with three strands of Mouliné Spécial. To transfer the design onto fabric, the pattern suggests using a DMC Magic Sheet in combination with a transfer pen and transfer paper, which allows the design to be accurately reproduced onto the chosen fabric before stitching begins.

Pattern Format and Availability

The Cat