Lyre in laurel wreath hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Lyre in laurel wreath: preview of the stitched design

A lyre stands inside an open laurel wreath tied with a ribbon bow at its foot. The frame of the lyre is one band of satin stitch that ends in a ball at the tip of each arm, with a yoke, a string bar and a foot of satin stitch; seven strings of back stitch run from the yoke to the string bar; the laurel leaves are satin stitch on stems of stem stitch, and the ribbon bow is satin stitch with a padded knot.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: short satin stitches, no shading, with a little padded satin stitch; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

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)	1.7 × 1.6 in	4.3 × 4.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.4 in	6.4 × 6.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.2 in	8.6 × 8.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4.1 in	10.7 × 10.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 5.7 in	15 × 14.5 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)

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 GreenStems and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 304 Medium RedBow, bow tails and bow knot
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownStrings
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawString bar, frame, foot, yoke and finials

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 strandsStems
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), bow, bow tails, string bar, frame, foot, yoke, finials
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsBow knot
Back stitch 2 strandsStrings

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.