Jacobean pomegranate hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 6 kinds of stitch

Jacobean pomegranate: preview of the stitched design

A pomegranate is shown in the Jacobean manner. The round fruit rises into a crown of three points and holds a window of seeds shaped like a drop. The rind is pink long and short stitch inside a pink stem stitch outline, and a blue satin stitch band runs round the seeds, which are gold trellis stitch with a pink French knot in each whole diamond. The crown is gold long and short stitch with a pink satin stitch tongue in each point and a brown stem stitch outline. From a brown satin stitch stem and tie two leaves sweep out and up in fishbone stitch, half dark green and half light green, with dark green stem stitch outlines.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch and trellis stitch.

6 colors of floss and 6 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.3 × 1.9 in	3.3 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2 × 2.8 in	5.1 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.7 × 3.8 in	6.9 × 9.7 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.3 × 4.7 in	8.4 × 11.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.7 × 6.6 in	11.9 × 16.8 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

In a 3 or 4 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 3781 Dark Mocha BrownStem, tie and outline of the crown
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenDarker half of each leaf and outlines of the leaves
DMC 989 Forest GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawCrown and trellis of the seeds
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseTongues of the crown, rind, knots of the seeds and outline of the rind
DMC 3755 Baby BlueBand round the seeds

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, tie, tongues of the crown, band round the seeds
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaves
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutlines of the leaves, outline of the crown, outline of the rind
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsCrown, rind
Trellis stitch 2 strandsTrellis of the seeds
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots of the seeds

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.