Bee over daisy crescent hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 8 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Bee over daisy crescent: preview of the stitched design

A honey bee spreads its four wings over a crescent of leaves: from a daisy at the foot a branch rises to each side, with four pairs of satin stitch leaves and one leaf at its end. The daisy is satin stitch petals round a satin stitch center with a French knot in it. The head, the eyes, the three parts of the thorax (the middle of the body) and six bands across the abdomen of the bee are satin stitch; the wings are outlined in stem stitch with veins of back stitch, and the feelers and six jointed legs are stem stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Eight colors; from a 5 inch hoop up the widest satin stitches are long.

8 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)	1.7 × 1.8 in	4.3 × 4.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.8 in	6.4 × 7.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.7 in	8.4 × 9.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4.6 in	10.7 × 11.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.8 × 6.5 in	14.7 × 16.5 cm	5/8 in (16 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 5/8 in (16 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, 4 or 5 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenBranches and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteDaisy petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawDaisy center and gold bands of the abdomen
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownDaisy center knot, feelers, legs, eyes and brown bands of the abdomen
DMC 336 Navy BlueOutlines of the hind wings and outlines of the fore wings
DMC 3755 Baby BlueHind wing veins and fore wing veins
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownHead and thorax

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 strandsBranches, feelers, legs, outlines of the hind wings, outlines of the fore wings
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), daisy petals, daisy center, head, eyes, bands of the abdomen, thorax
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsDaisy center knot
Back stitch 2 strandsHind wing veins, fore wing 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.