Bumblebee in a daisy ring hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Bumblebee in a daisy ring: preview of the stitched design

A bumblebee with four wings and six legs sits inside a ring of six cream daisies on one round stem, with two pairs of leaves between each daisy and the next. The body of the bee, the daisy petals, their centers and the leaves are satin stitch, and the round stem is stem stitch. The wings are outlined in stem stitch with veins of back stitch, and the feelers and the legs are stem stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a fifth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the 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)	1.8 × 1.9 in	4.6 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.9 in	6.9 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.8 in	9.1 × 9.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.5 × 4.8 in	11.4 × 12.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.3 × 6.7 in	16 × 17 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenStem and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 543 Ultra Very Light BeigeDaisy petals and cream bands of the abdomen
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawDaisy centers, head, gold band of the abdomen and gold band of the thorax
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownFeelers, legs, eyes, brown bands of the abdomen and brown band of the thorax
DMC 336 Navy BlueOutlines of the hind wings, hind wing veins, outlines of the fore wings and fore wing veins

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 strandsStem, 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 centers, head, eyes, bands of the abdomen, thorax
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.