Ship’s anchor hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 2 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Ship’s anchor: preview of the stitched design

This anchor is solid and beveled like cast iron: its shank and its stock are each split down the middle into a light half and a dark half of satin stitch, its two arms are one curved band of satin stitch, laid across the band, with a beveled fluke on the end of each, and a ring of satin stitch passes through the head of the shank. It is all satin stitch, in navy and light blue.

Size and details

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

2 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.5 × 1.6 in	3.8 × 4.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.3 × 2.5 in	5.8 × 6.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3 × 3.3 in	7.6 × 8.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.8 × 4.1 in	9.7 × 10.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.3 × 5.7 in	13.5 × 14.5 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 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 336 Navy BlueArms, dark half of a fluke, ring, dark half of the stock and dark half of the shank
DMC 3755 Baby BlueLight half of a fluke, light half of the stock and light half of the shank

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 strandsArms, light half of a fluke, dark half of a fluke, ring, light half of the stock, dark half of the stock, light half of the shank, dark half of the shank

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.