Orange blossom wedding wreath hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Orange blossom wedding wreath: preview of the stitched design

A round wreath of orange blossom is tied with a pink bow at the foot. Dark green stems run round from the bow, broken by three blossoms, one at the top and one at each side. Each blossom has white petals round a gold middle, with five yellow stamens. Each of the four quarters between the blossoms and the bow carries two pairs of leaves with a pair of white buds between the pairs. The stems and the stalks of the buds are stem stitch, the stamens are French knots and the bow knot is padded satin stitch; the leaves, buds, petals, middles, bow and bow tails are satin stitch. The open middle takes names or a date.

Size and details

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

6 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)	1.8 × 1.9 in	4.6 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.8 in	6.9 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.7 in	9.4 × 9.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.7 in	11.7 × 11.9 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 6.6 in	16.3 × 16.8 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.
In a 3 or 4 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

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, darker half of each leaf and stalks of the buds
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC B5200 Snow WhiteBuds and blossom petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBlossom middles
DMC 726 Light TopazBlossom stamens
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkBow, bow tails and bow knot

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, stalks of the buds
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), buds, blossom petals, blossom middles, bow, bow tails
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsBlossom stamens
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.