Greek temple with olive sprays hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Greek temple with olive sprays: preview of the stitched design

A Greek temple is seen from the front, the same left and right. Six blue fluted columns, each under a navy capital, stand on three navy steps and carry two navy beams and the two sloping sides of the navy pediment. Inside the pediment two gold olive sprays run out from a French knot in the middle, each with three olive leaves, and a gold palmette of five leaves fans from the peak. The columns, capitals, steps, beams, pediment and palmette are satin stitch; the olive sprays are stem stitch and the olive leaves are fishbone stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a sixth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop.

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)	1.6 × 1.3 in	4.1 × 3.3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 1.9 in	6.1 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 2.5 in	8.1 × 6.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.2 in	10.2 × 8.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 4.4 in	14.2 × 11.2 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)

In a 3 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 3755 Baby BlueFluted columns
DMC 336 Navy BlueCapitals, steps, beams and pediment
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawOlive sprays, olive leaves, middle of the sprays and palmette

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 strandsFluted columns, capitals, steps, beams, pediment, palmette
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOlive sprays
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsOlive leaves
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsMiddle of the sprays

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.