Jacobean carnation hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Jacobean carnation: preview of the stitched design

A carnation is seen from the side in the Jacobean manner, the same on both sides of its middle. Its petals spread in a fan with zigzag edges, in two tiers: five light pink back petals behind three dark pink front petals, all in long and short stitch with dark pink stem stitch outlines. Under them sits a cup in satin stitch, dark green with one light green band across it, outlined in dark green stem stitch. A brown stem runs down to a brown tie, both satin stitch, and from the tie two dark green leaves rise in satin stitch with stem stitch outlines, each ending in a stem stitch leaf curl.

Size and details

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

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)	1.4 × 1.7 in	3.6 × 4.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.5 in	5.3 × 6.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 3.4 in	7.1 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.5 × 4.2 in	8.9 × 10.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.9 × 5.9 in	12.4 × 15 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 3781 Dark Mocha BrownStem and tie
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenLeaves, outlines of the leaves, leaf curls, cup and outline of the cup
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkBack petals
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseOutlines of the back petals, front petals and outlines of the front petals
DMC 989 Forest GreenBand of the cup

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 strandsStem, leaves, tie, cup
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutlines of the leaves, leaf curls, outlines of the back petals, outlines of the front petals, outline of the cup
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsBack petals, front petals

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.