Banded teardrop bauble hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Banded teardrop bauble: preview of the stitched design

A teardrop Christmas bauble hangs from a loop over its cap and is worked in bands that follow its curve: a row of five diamonds, teal and red by turns, where it is widest, five long petals that run down the taper from under a solid collar and widen as the taper does, and a fan of seven petals round a half disc in the foot. The outline and the loop are stem stitch; the cap, the collar, the dividing bands, the diamonds, the long petals and the fan are satin stitch.

Size and details

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

3 colors of floss and 2 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.2 × 1.9 in	3 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.8 × 2.9 in	4.6 × 7.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.3 × 3.8 in	5.8 × 9.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	2.9 × 4.8 in	7.4 × 12.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.1 × 6.7 in	10.4 × 17 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.

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

What you need

DMC 304 Medium RedCollar, red diamonds, petals down the taper and fan in the foot
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBands, hanging loop and cap
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseTeal diamonds, half disc and outline of the bauble

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

Satin stitch 2 strandsCollar, bands, diamonds, petals down the taper, fan in the foot, half disc, cap
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutline of the bauble, hanging loop

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.