Life ring with an anchor hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Life ring with an anchor: preview of the stitched design

A life ring is seen face on with an anchor in its open middle. The ring is white and has four red bands, set at the upper left, upper right, lower left and lower right. A tan rope loops from band to band in four arcs around the outside of the ring. In the middle stands a navy anchor: a small anchor ring at the head, a stock across the shank just below it, and curved anchor arms at the foot that end in two pointed anchor flukes. The ring, the bands, the rope and the anchor arms, flukes, shank and stock are satin stitch; the anchor ring is a circle of stem stitch.

Size and details

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

4 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)	1.6 × 1.6 in	4.1 × 4.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.4 in	6.1 × 6.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.3 in	8.4 × 8.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4.1 in	10.4 × 10.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5.7 in	14.5 × 14.5 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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 3828 Hazelnut BrownRope
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteRing
DMC 304 Medium RedBands
DMC 336 Navy BlueAnchor arms, anchor flukes, anchor shank, anchor stock and anchor ring

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 strandsRope, ring, bands, anchor arms, anchor flukes, anchor shank, anchor stock
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsAnchor ring

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.