Poinsettia bauble hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Poinsettia bauble: preview of the stitched design

A round Christmas bauble hangs from a loop, drawn as two rings one inside the other, over its gold cap. Inside a gold satin stitch ring a poinsettia has six long pointed red bracts and six short pink ones over the gaps between them, all in fishbone stitch, round three gold French knots. The cap is satin stitch; the outline of the ball is red stem stitch and the two rings of the hanging loop are gold stem stitch.

Size and details

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

3 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)	1.4 × 1.8 in	3.6 × 4.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2.7 in	5.6 × 6.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 3.5 in	7.4 × 8.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 4.4 in	9.1 × 11.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 6.2 in	12.7 × 15.7 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 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 3852 Very Dark StrawRing, knots at the middle of the poinsettia, hanging loop and cap
DMC 304 Medium RedLong bracts and outline of the ball
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseShort bracts

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

Satin stitch 2 strandsRing, cap
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLong bracts, short bracts
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots at the middle of the poinsettia
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutline of the ball, hanging loop

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.