Owl on a leafy branch hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Owl on a leafy branch: preview of the stitched design

An owl is seen from the front, perched on a brown branch with three green leaves at each end. Its head and body are one brown outline with two points at the top. Two teal eye rings, each round a brown eye, sit side by side over a rust beak. Below them the breast feathers lie in seven rows, gold and rust by turns, that narrow from seven feathers to one gold feather, between two teal wings. Rust feet rest on the branch, and three tail feathers hang under it, a gold one between two rust ones. The owl outline and the face outline are stem stitch, the leaves are fishbone stitch, and the rest is satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

5 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.5 × 1.8 in	3.8 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2.8 in	5.6 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 3.7 in	7.4 × 9.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.7 × 4.6 in	9.4 × 11.7 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.1 × 6.5 in	13 × 16.5 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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 355 Dark Terra CottaRust tail feathers, rust breast feathers, beak and feet
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawMiddle tail feather and gold breast feathers
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownOwl outline, branch, face outline and eyes
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseWings and eye rings
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLeaves

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 strandsTail feathers, wings, breast feathers, branch, eye rings, eyes, beak, feet
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOwl outline, face outline
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaves

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.