Bunch of five balloons hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Bunch of five balloons: preview of the stitched design

Five balloons rise in a fan from one bow at the foot. The middle balloon is red and carries a red satin stitch heart; the balloon on each side of it is gold, and the two outermost are teal. Each balloon is outlined in stem stitch, and each of the gold and teal ones has a short line of back stitch for its shine. A small satin stitch tie in the same color closes each balloon, and from it a gray back stitch string runs down to the bow. The bow is outlined in red stem stitch, with two loops, two tails and a satin stitch knot.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: back stitch and stem stitch, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

4 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 × 1.8 in	4.8 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.6 in	7.1 × 6.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.5 in	9.4 × 8.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.4 in	11.7 × 11.2 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 6.2 in	16.5 × 15.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

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

What you need

DMC 414 Dark Steel GrayStrings
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseTeal balloons, ties of the teal balloons and shine on the teal balloons
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold balloons, ties of the gold balloons and shine on the gold balloons
DMC 304 Medium RedRed balloon, tie of the red balloon, heart, bow and knot of the bow

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

Back stitch 2 strandsStrings, shine on the balloons
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBalloons, bow
Satin stitch 2 strandsBalloon ties, heart, knot of the bow

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.