Dharma wheel on a lotus hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Dharma wheel on a lotus: preview of the stitched design

An eight-spoked wheel with a hub, a double rim and a bud-shaped knob at the end of every spoke but the lowest stands in an open lotus of five petals, the middle petal in front of the foot of the wheel. The hub, the spokes, the rim and the petals are stem stitch outlines, the swirl in the hub and the petal veins are back stitch, the knobs are satin stitch and the dots round the rim are French knots.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: stem stitch, back stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

3 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)	1.3 × 1.8 in	3.3 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2 × 2.7 in	5.1 × 6.9 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.6 × 3.6 in	6.6 × 9.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.3 × 4.5 in	8.4 × 11.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.6 × 6.3 in	11.7 × 16 cm	3/8 in (10 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 3852 Very Dark StrawRim, spokes, hub and swirl in the hub
DMC 355 Dark Terra CottaKnobs and dots round the rim
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseLotus petals and petal veins

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 strandsRim, spokes, hub, lotus petals
Back stitch 2 strandsSwirl in the hub, petal veins
Satin stitch 2 strandsKnobs
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsDots round the rim

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.