Joseph’s coat quilt hand embroidery pattern

Advanced · 8 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Joseph’s coat quilt: preview of the stitched design

A Joseph’s coat quilt is drawn by its peels alone: forty-two peels (pointed ovals), every one the same size, six meeting at each of the seven inner joints, so that each of those joints is the middle of a flower and the peels make rings that cross one another. Every peel is split down its length into two halves of satin stitch laid across, one half light and the other dark, so the peels look folded: the six peels of the middle flower and the six of the ring round it are pinks and corals, the eighteen that ray outward golds, and the twelve of the rim teals. A navy French knot sits on each of the joints, with a larger gold one in the middle, and the peels of the rim are the edge of the piece: nothing is drawn round them.

Size and details

Advanced. Satin stitch over about a third of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop, eight colors and a great deal of stitching.

8 colors of floss and 2 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 × 1.7 in	4.6 × 4.3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.5 in	7.1 × 6.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.4 in	9.4 × 8.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.2 in	11.7 × 10.7 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 5.9 in	16.3 × 15 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)

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 3831 Dark RaspberryDark halves of the peels of the middle flower
DMC 351 CoralLight halves of the peels of the middle flower and dark halves of the peels of the ring round it
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkLight halves of the peels of the ring round it
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawDark halves of the peels that ray outward and knot in the middle
DMC 726 Light TopazLight halves of the peels that ray outward
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseDark halves of the peels of the rim
DMC 597 TurquoiseLight halves of the peels of the rim
DMC 336 Navy BlueKnots on the joints

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 strandsDark halves of the peels of the middle flower, light halves of the peels of the middle flower, dark halves of the peels of the ring round it, light halves of the peels of the ring round it, dark halves of the peels that ray outward, light halves of the peels that ray outward, dark halves of the peels of the rim, light halves of the peels of the rim
French knot 2 strands for the knots on the joints and 3 for the knot in the middle, two wrapsKnots on the joints, knot in the middle

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.