Lemon slice hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Lemon slice: preview of the stitched design

A slice of lemon is seen face on as a wheel of ten equal segments. The peel is one band of satin stitch and the pith is a ring of bare cloth. Each segment is worked in satin stitch in two halves that slant to meet on its middle line, and the segments stand round a small heart of satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about half of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 5 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

3 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

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	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.7 in	6.9 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.6 in	9.1 × 9.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.6 in	11.7 × 11.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 6.4 in	16.3 × 16.3 cm	5/8 in (16 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 5/8 in (16 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 3852 Very Dark StrawPeel
DMC 726 Light TopazSegments
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteHeart of the slice

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 strandsPeel, segments, heart of the slice

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.