Lemon and blossom ring hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Lemon and blossom ring: preview of the stitched design

A ring is made of lemons and blossoms on one round branch. Four white blossoms sit at the top, the foot and the two sides, and four lemons lie along the branch between them. A pair of leaves stands at each side of every blossom. The lemons are long and short stitch, yellow with a shaded side in gold. Each blossom has five white petals in satin stitch around a gold French knot center. The leaves are satin stitch, one half dark green and one half light green, each slanted to the center vein, and the branch is green stem stitch. The open middle takes a letter or a name.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch.

5 colors of floss and 4 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 × 1.8 in	4.6 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.8 in	7.1 × 7.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.7 in	9.4 × 9.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.6 in	11.7 × 11.7 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 6.5 in	16.5 × 16.5 cm	3/8 in (10 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenBranch and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 726 Light TopazLemons
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawShaded side of the lemons and centers of the blossoms
DMC B5200 Snow WhitePetals of the blossoms

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 strandsBranch
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), petals of the blossoms
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsLemons, shaded side of the lemons
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsCenters of the blossoms

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.