Beach ball on the sand hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Beach ball on the sand: preview of the stitched design

A beach ball rests on the sand with the sea behind it. A white cap sits near the top, and eight panels run out from it to the edge: every other panel is yellow, with two red panels beside the smaller yellow panel at the top and two blue panels lower down. The cap of the ball and the smaller yellow panel are satin stitch; the red panels, the larger yellow panels and the blue panels are long and short stitch. The sea is rows of pale blue wavy lines in stem stitch, broken where they meet the ball, and the sand is a tan line of stem stitch at the foot of the ball.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch; from a 5 inch hoop up the widest satin stitches are long.

6 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.9 × 1.2 in	4.8 × 3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 1.8 in	7.1 × 4.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.8 × 2.3 in	9.7 × 5.8 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.7 × 2.9 in	11.9 × 7.4 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.6 × 4.1 in	16.8 × 10.4 cm	3/4 in (19 mm)

In a 6 or 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) or more 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 3755 Baby BlueSea
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownSand
DMC 726 Light TopazYellow panels
DMC 304 Medium RedRed panels
DMC 322 Dark Baby BlueBlue panels
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteCap of the ball

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 strandsSea, sand
Satin stitch 2 strandsSmaller yellow panel, cap of the ball
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsRed panels, larger yellow panels, blue panels

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.