Bubbling cauldron with stars hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Bubbling cauldron with stars: preview of the stitched design

A cauldron stands on its feet and bubbles, the same left and right. The wall of the round pot is a narrow band of purple satin stitch, with a curved lip, two ear handles and two stout feet in the same purple, and round its belly run two orange satin stitch stripes with three gold satin stitch stars between them. The froth is five round bubbles of light green satin stitch along the lip with four darker ones behind them, and three bubbles of green stem stitch rise above.

Size and details

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

5 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)	1.6 × 1.7 in	4.1 × 4.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.5 in	6.1 × 6.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.4 in	8.1 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 4.2 in	10.2 × 10.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 5.9 in	14.2 × 15 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.

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

What you need

DMC 208 Very Dark LavenderFeet, handles, wall of the pot and lip of the pot
DMC 922 Light CopperStripes
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawStars
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenDarker bubbles of froth behind and bubbles rising above
DMC 989 Forest GreenLighter bubbles of froth along the lip

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 strandsFeet, handles, stripes, stars, wall of the pot, darker bubbles of froth behind, lighter bubbles of froth along the lip, lip of the pot
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBubbles rising above

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.