Laurel wreath of pointed leaves hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Laurel wreath of pointed leaves: preview of the stitched design

A laurel wreath is made of two branches that rise from a tie at the foot and stay open at the top, the left side the mirror of the right. The branches are navy stem stitch. Each carries eight pairs of pointed satin stitch leaves at equal steps: a longer gold outer leaf and a shorter teal inner leaf in each pair. Each branch ends in one gold tip leaf. The tie at the foot is teal satin stitch in the shape of a diamond. The open middle takes an initial or a name.

Size and details

Easy. Short satin stitches, no shading.

3 colors of floss and 2 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 × 1.7 in	4.6 × 4.3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.6 in	7.1 × 6.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.5 in	9.4 × 8.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.4 in	11.7 × 11.2 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 6.1 in	16.5 × 15.5 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 336 Navy BlueBranches
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawOuter leaves and tip leaves
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseInner leaves and tie

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
Satin stitch 2 strandsOuter leaves, inner leaves, tip leaves, tie

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.