Stethoscope heart over laurel hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Stethoscope heart over laurel: preview of the stitched design

A stethoscope is looped as a heart with a small heart inside it, over a cradle of laurel tied with a ribbon bow. The navy tubing, the gray ear tubes, the ear tips, the small red heart and the blue chest piece with its gray rim are satin stitch. 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

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

6 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)	1.7 × 1.6 in	4.3 × 4.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.5 × 2.4 in	6.4 × 6.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.2 in	8.6 × 8.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.2 × 4 in	10.7 × 10.2 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.9 × 5.6 in	15 × 14.2 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 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, bow knot and heart
DMC 414 Dark Steel GrayEar tubes and rim of the chest piece
DMC 336 Navy BlueTubing and ear tips
DMC 3755 Baby BlueChest piece

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, ear tubes, tubing, ear tips, chest piece, rim of the chest piece, heart
Padded satin stitch 2 strandsBow knot

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.