Canoe at sunrise hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Canoe at sunrise: preview of the stitched design

A canoe floats on a lake at sunrise inside a navy ring. The lake fills the lower part of the ring in seven level bands, blue and navy by turns, with a blue band at the top and at the foot. The canoe lies across the upper bands, a rust hull with upturned ends and a tan gunwale, the rim along its upper edge. Behind it the sun rises from the water as a gold half round inside an orange band, with seven gold rays fanning out above. The blue and navy bands of the lake, the sun, the band of the sun, the rays, the hull, the gunwale and the ring are all satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about half of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop and a great deal of stitching; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

6 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.9 × 1.9 in	4.8 × 4.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.8 in	7.1 × 7.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.7 in	9.4 × 9.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.7 × 4.7 in	11.9 × 11.9 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 6.5 in	16.5 × 16.5 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 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 3755 Baby BlueBlue bands of the lake
DMC 336 Navy BlueNavy bands of the lake and ring
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawSun and rays
DMC 922 Light CopperBand of the sun
DMC 355 Dark Terra CottaHull
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownGunwale

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 strandsBlue bands of the lake, navy bands of the lake, sun, band of the sun, rays, hull, gunwale, ring

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.