Four card suits in a ring hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Four card suits in a ring: preview of the stitched design

The four suits of a pack of cards sit inside a round ring, set about a rosette in the center. A red heart is at the top and a red diamond at the foot, with a navy spade at the left and a navy club at the right. Between them four green sprigs run out on the slant from the rosette, each a stem with five leaves. The rosette has eight gold petals around a red boss. The ring is two navy lines of stem stitch with a line of gold chain stitch between them. The suits, the petals and the boss are satin stitch, the leaves are fishbone stitch and the stems are stem stitch.

Size and details

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

4 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 × 1.7 in	4.3 × 4.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.6 in	6.6 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.4 in	8.6 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 4.3 in	10.9 × 10.9 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6 × 6 in	15.2 × 15.2 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 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 336 Navy BlueRing, spade and club
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawChain in the ring and petals of the rosette
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenStems of the sprigs and leaves of the sprigs
DMC 304 Medium RedBoss of the rosette, heart and diamond

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 strandsRing, stems of the sprigs
Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsChain in the ring
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaves of the sprigs
Satin stitch 2 strandsPetals of the rosette, boss of the rosette, heart, diamond, spade, club

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.