Dragonfly from above hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Dragonfly from above: preview of the stitched design

A dragonfly is seen from straight above: a head with an eye at each side, a thorax (the middle of the body) in three parts and a long tail of seven segments in satin stitch, and four long wings that never overlap, outlined in stem stitch. In each wing one long vein of back stitch runs beside the front edge to a small mark of satin stitch near the tip, and five veins sweep from it to the hind edge at even steps.

Size and details

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

4 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)	1.9 × 1.3 in	4.8 × 3.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 1.9 in	7.1 × 4.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 2.6 in	9.4 × 6.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 3.2 in	11.7 × 8.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 4.5 in	16.5 × 11.4 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 BlueHind wings, fore wings and eyes
DMC 3755 Baby BlueHind wing veins, fore wing veins, blue segments of the tail and inner thorax
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawWing marks
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseTeal segments of the tail, outer thorax and head

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 strandsHind wings, fore wings
Back stitch 2 strandsHind wing veins, fore wing veins
Satin stitch 2 strandsWing marks, segments of the tail, thorax, head, eyes

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.