Bee in honeycomb ring hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Bee in honeycomb ring: preview of the stitched design

A honey bee sits in a six-sided ring of honeycomb: twenty-four cells with walls of stem stitch, every second one holding a smaller cell of gold honey in satin stitch. The bee has a head, a thorax (the middle of the body) and six bands across the abdomen, gold and brown by turns, in satin stitch, two feelers of stem stitch and two wings outlined in stem stitch with veins of back stitch.

Size and details

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

5 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 × 1.7 in	4.8 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.9 × 2.6 in	7.4 × 6.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.9 × 3.5 in	9.9 × 8.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.8 × 4.4 in	12.2 × 11.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.8 × 6.1 in	17.3 × 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.

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

What you need

DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownWalls of the comb, feelers, head and brown bands of the abdomen
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawHoney and gold bands of the abdomen
DMC 336 Navy BlueOutlines of the wings
DMC 3755 Baby BlueWing veins
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownThorax

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 strandsWalls of the comb, feelers, outlines of the wings
Satin stitch 2 strandsHoney, head, bands of the abdomen, thorax
Back stitch 2 strandsWing veins

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.