Jacobean flower hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 5 kinds of stitch

Jacobean flower: preview of the stitched design

One great flower in the Jacobean style, the bold scrolling plants of English embroidery in the 1600s, stands on a straight stem: a pointed heart filled with a trellis of crossing lines, an outer petal on each side whose tip turns back in a scroll round a dot, a smaller scroll inside each petal, and two large leaves that sweep up and turn outward at the tip, each with a row of six veins. The outlines and scrolls are stem stitch, the trellis is laid thread held down by couching, the veins are back stitch, the calyx is satin stitch and the two dots are French knots.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses couching and a little satin stitch; from a 6 inch hoop up the satin stitches are long.

4 colors of floss and 5 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)	2.3 × 2.8 in	5.8 × 7.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3 × 3.7 in	7.6 × 9.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.8 × 4.6 in	9.7 × 11.7 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.3 × 6.5 in	13.5 × 16.5 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.
In a 3 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them 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 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseOuter petals and heart
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseScrolls inside the petals and leaf veins
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawDots in the petal scrolls, trellis in the heart and calyx
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenStem, leaves and leaf center veins

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 strandsOuter petals, scrolls inside the petals, heart, stem, leaves, leaf center veins
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsDots in the petal scrolls
Couching 2 strandsTrellis in the heart
Back stitch 2 strandsLeaf veins
Satin stitch 2 strandsCalyx

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.