Love potion bottle with stars hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Love potion bottle with stars: preview of the stitched design

A round bottle of love potion with a long neck and a cork stands between four stars, two at each side. The bottle outline and the shine on the glass are teal stem stitch, and the lip of the bottle in teal and the cork in tan are satin stitch. A pink stem stitch line across the neck marks the level of the potion, and pink stem stitch bubbles rise up the neck below it, each smaller than the one below. In the round part of the bottle lies a red satin stitch heart inside a border of pink chain stitch. The stars are gold satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

5 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.5 × 1.7 in	3.8 × 4.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.3 × 2.6 in	5.8 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.1 × 3.5 in	7.9 × 8.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.9 × 4.3 in	9.9 × 10.9 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.4 × 6.1 in	13.7 × 15.5 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 3828 Hazelnut BrownCork
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseBottle outline, lip of the bottle and shine on the glass
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseLevel of the potion, bubbles and border of the heart
DMC 304 Medium RedHeart
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawStars

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 strandsCork, lip of the bottle, heart, stars
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBottle outline, shine on the glass, level of the potion, bubbles
Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsBorder of the heart

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.