Jar of buttons with a bow hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Jar of buttons with a bow: preview of the stitched design

A jar of buttons is seen from the front. The glass of the jar is one band of gray satin stitch, under a teal lid and collar, both satin stitch. A pink ribbon round the neck is tied in a bow, with the ribbon, the bow and the bow tails in satin stitch and the bow knot in padded satin stitch. The buttons lie in three rows: three large ones, pink, teal and pink, then four small ones, teal, gold, gold and teal, then three large ones again. Each has a rim of satin stitch round navy French knots for its holes, four on the large buttons and two on the small.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a fifth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop.

5 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)	1.4 × 1.6 in	3.6 × 4.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.4 in	5.3 × 6.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 3.2 in	7.1 × 8.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 4.1 in	9.1 × 10.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 5.7 in	12.7 × 14.5 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)

In a 3 or 4 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them 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 414 Dark Steel GrayGlass of the jar
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseLarge buttons in the middle of their rows, small buttons at the ends of their row, lid of the jar and collar of the lid
DMC 336 Navy BlueHoles of the large buttons and holes of the small buttons
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseLarge buttons at the ends of their rows, ribbon round the neck, bow, bow tails and bow knot
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawSmall buttons in the middle of their row

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 strandsGlass of the jar, rims of the large buttons, rims of the small buttons, lid of the jar, collar of the lid, ribbon round the neck, bow, bow tails
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsHoles of the large buttons, holes of the small buttons
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsBow knot

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.