Honey bee from above hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Honey bee from above: preview of the stitched design

A honey bee is seen from straight above with its four wings spread. The head, the eyes, the three parts of the thorax (the middle of the body) and six bands across the abdomen are satin stitch. The wings are outlined in stem stitch with veins of back stitch that sweep to the hind edge, and the feelers and six jointed legs are stem stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 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)	1.8 × 1.4 in	4.6 × 3.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.2 in	7.1 × 5.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 2.9 in	9.4 × 7.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 3.6 in	11.7 × 9.1 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 5.1 in	16.5 × 13 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 3781 Dark Mocha BrownFeelers, legs, eyes and brown bands of the abdomen
DMC 336 Navy BlueOutlines of the hind wings and outlines of the fore wings
DMC 3755 Baby BlueHind wing veins and fore wing veins
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownHead and thorax
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold bands of the abdomen

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 strandsFeelers, legs, outlines of the hind wings, outlines of the fore wings
Back stitch 2 strandsHind wing veins, fore wing veins
Satin stitch 2 strandsHead, eyes, bands of the abdomen, thorax

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.