Bow with a flower at the knot hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Bow with a flower at the knot: preview of the stitched design

A satin bow has a flower at the knot: two full loops and two tails with swallow-tail ends, and over their meeting a flower of eight petals with a ring of eight smaller petals lying on it and a round center. The ribbon is satin stitch laid across it, and the petals and the center are satin stitch, each petal worked from the middle of the flower outward. It is all one stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

4 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.6 × 1.4 in	4.1 × 3.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.1 in	6.1 × 5.3 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 2.8 in	8.4 × 7.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 3.5 in	10.4 × 8.9 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5 in	14.5 × 12.7 cm	11/16 in (17 mm)

In a 6 or 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) or more 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 3755 Baby BlueBow tails and bow loops
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseOuter petals
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkInner petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawFlower center

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 strandsBow tails, bow loops, outer petals, inner petals, flower center

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.