Clock face in a laurel wreath hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Clock face in a laurel wreath: preview of the stitched design

A round clock face stands inside a wreath of two laurel branches, open at the top. The rim of the face is navy chain stitch with a ring of stem stitch inside it. Twelve navy bars mark the hours, the four bars at the quarters longer and broader than the eight hour bars, and a short hour hand and a longer minute hand stand at ten past ten and meet at a gold round at the center, all in satin stitch. The stem stitch branches rise from three gold French knot berries at the foot, and their satin stitch leaves sit in pairs below a single leaf at each tip, each leaf half dark green and half light green.

Size and details

Easy. Short satin stitches, no shading.

4 colors of floss and 4 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 × 1.6 in	4.6 × 4.1 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.5 in	6.9 × 6.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.3 in	9.4 × 8.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.1 in	11.7 × 10.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 5.8 in	16.3 × 14.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)

In a 3 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenBranches and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBerries and round at the center
DMC 336 Navy BlueRim of the face, ring inside the rim, bars at the quarters, hour bars, hour hand and minute hand

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBranches, ring inside the rim
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), bars at the quarters, hour bars, hour hand, minute hand, round at the center
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsBerries
Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsRim of the face

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.