Cottontail rabbit between two tulips hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Cottontail rabbit between two tulips: preview of the stitched design

A rabbit sits with its back turned between two tulips, its long ears up and a round white tail low between its haunches. The rabbit is filled in tan long and short stitch inside a brown stem stitch outline, and each haunch is a curved line of brown stem stitch. The ears are tan satin stitch with pink satin stitch insides and the tail is white satin stitch, each inside its own line of brown stem stitch. One pink satin stitch tulip stands on each side on a green satin stitch stem with two green fishbone stitch leaves at its foot. A line of green satin stitch ground runs under all of it.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch; from a 5 inch hoop up the widest satin stitches are long.

5 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)	1.7 × 1.3 in	4.3 × 3.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 1.9 in	6.4 × 4.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 2.6 in	8.6 × 6.6 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 3.2 in	10.7 × 8.1 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 4.5 in	15 × 11.4 cm	5/8 in (16 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 5/8 in (16 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 3828 Hazelnut BrownEars and body of the rabbit
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownOutlines of the ears, outline of the rabbit, haunches and outline of the tail
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseInsides of the ears and tulips
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenTulip stems, tulip leaves and ground
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteTail

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 strandsEars, insides of the ears, tulip stems, tulips, tail, ground
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutlines of the ears, outline of the rabbit, haunches, outline of the tail
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsTulip leaves
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsBody of the rabbit

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.