Cherry blossom coaster hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 7 kinds of stitch

Cherry blossom coaster: preview of the stitched design

A round design for a coaster shows one cherry blossom seen face on inside a scalloped edge. Its five light pink petals, each with a small nick in its end, are long and short stitch. The eye is dark pink satin stitch, and ten dark pink stamens in straight stitch ray out from it over the petals, each tipped with a gold French knot; one more gold knot sits on the eye. Five light green leaves in fishbone stitch show between the petals, each with a dark green leaf vein in back stitch. Three dark pink French knots sit between each pair of leaves, and the scalloped edge is dark green stem stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch and a little satin stitch; from a 6 inch hoop up the satin stitches are long.

5 colors of floss and 7 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 × 1.8 in	4.6 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.7 in	6.9 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.6 in	9.1 × 9.1 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.4 × 4.4 in	11.2 × 11.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.2 × 6.2 in	15.7 × 15.7 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.
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 989 Forest GreenLeaves
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenLeaf veins and scalloped edge
DMC 3779 Very Light RosewoodCherry blossom petals
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseCherry blossom stamens, cherry blossom eye and knots between the leaves
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawCherry blossom stamen tips

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

Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaves
Back stitch 2 strandsLeaf veins
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsCherry blossom petals
Straight stitch 2 strandsCherry blossom stamens
Satin stitch 2 strandsCherry blossom eye
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsCherry blossom stamen tips, knots between the leaves
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsScalloped edge

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.