Peony crescent spray hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Peony crescent spray: preview of the stitched design

A crescent of leaves has a peony in the middle: a short branch rises to each side of the flower, clothed with pairs of leaves and ending in a single leaf. The crescent is made to sit under a name or a date. The branches are stem stitch and the leaves are satin stitch in a dark and a light green; the peony has satin stitch petals in blush pink and a paler pink round a deeper pink center, with gold French knot stamens.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 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 in	4.3 × 2.5 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 1.5 in	6.6 × 3.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 2 in	8.6 × 5.1 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 2.5 in	10.9 × 6.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6 × 3.5 in	15.2 × 8.9 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 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 GreenBranches and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkPeony outer petals
DMC 3779 Very Light RosewoodPeony inner petals
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RosePeony center
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawPeony stamens

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 strandsBranches
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), peony outer petals, peony inner petals, peony center
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsPeony stamens

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.