Winged caduceus hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 6 kinds of stitch

Winged caduceus: preview of the stitched design

A caduceus is a staff topped by a ball and a pair of raised wings, with two snakes winding up it that cross over and under each other four times and face each other below the wings. The snakes, the staff and the wing outlines are stem stitch, the lines between the feathers are back stitch, a line of running stitch goes down the back of each snake, the ball and the leading band of each wing are satin stitch, the eyes are French knots and the tongues are straight stitches.

Size and details

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

3 colors of floss and 6 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.1 × 1.7 in	2.8 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.7 × 2.6 in	4.3 × 6.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.3 × 3.4 in	5.8 × 8.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	2.9 × 4.3 in	7.4 × 10.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4 × 6 in	10.2 × 15.2 cm	7/16 in (11 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 3852 Very Dark StrawLeading band of each wing, wings, long feathers, staff and ball on the staff
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenLeft snake, right snake, line down the back of each snake and eyes
DMC 304 Medium RedTongues

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 strandsLeading band of each wing, ball on the staff
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsWings, staff, left snake, right snake
Back stitch 2 strandsLong feathers
Running stitch 3 strandsLine down the back of each snake
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEyes
Straight stitch 2 strandsTongues

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.