Cupped peony hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Cupped peony: preview of the stitched design

A peony seen from the side stands open like a bowl, with broad notched petals in front, small crumpled petals over their rim and tall ruffled petals behind, on a curving stem that carries two leaves, each divided into three pointed leaflets. The petals, the stem and the leaflets are outlined in stem stitch, and the creases in the petals and the ribs of the leaflets are back stitch.

Size and details

Easy. Line stitches only, but a good deal of line to work.

3 colors of floss and 2 kinds of stitch, all of them line stitches:

The stitched size, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters
3 in (8 cm)	1.4 × 1.7 in	3.6 × 4.3 cm
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.6 in	5.3 × 6.6 cm
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 3.5 in	7.1 × 8.9 cm
6 in (15 cm)	3.5 × 4.3 in	8.9 × 10.9 cm
8 in (20 cm)	4.9 × 6 in	12.4 × 15.2 cm

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 GreenStem, sepals, leaflets and leaflet ribs
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RosePetals
DMC 3779 Very Light RosewoodPetal creases

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 strandsStem, sepals, leaflets, petals
Back stitch 2 strandsLeaflet ribs, petal creases

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.