Baby rattle with a bow hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Baby rattle with a bow: preview of the stitched design

A baby rattle stands upright: a round ball with a daisy of eight petals in its middle, a bead between each pair of petals and a border of twenty scallops inside its rim, a straight handle ending in a ring, and a ribbon bow tied round the handle under the ball, its two short ends swinging out to the sides. The ball, the handle and the ring are stem stitch, the scallops are back stitch, the beads are French knots, and the petals, the center of the daisy and the ribbon of the bow are satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

4 colors of floss and 4 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	0.8 × 1.7 in	2 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.2 × 2.6 in	3 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	1.6 × 3.5 in	4.1 × 8.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	2 × 4.3 in	5.1 × 10.9 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	2.9 × 6.1 in	7.4 × 15.5 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) across. Satin stitches longer than about 12 mm (just under 1/2 in) tend to work loose: divide the shape into sections, or work it in long and short stitch.
In a 3 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 336 Navy BlueBall of the rattle, handle and ring of the handle
DMC 3755 Baby BlueScallops inside the rim
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseDaisy petals, bow tails, bow loops and bow knot
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawDaisy center and beads between the petals

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBall of the rattle, handle, ring of the handle
Back stitch 2 strandsScallops inside the rim
Satin stitch 2 strandsDaisy petals, daisy center, bow tails, bow loops, bow knot
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsBeads between the petals

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.