Queen’s crown with orb hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Queen’s crown with orb: preview of the stitched design

A queen’s crown is seen from the front, topped by an orb. The band of the crown is gold with a rim above and below, and carries a red stone at the middle, a teal stone at each side and four white pearls. Gold arches spring from the ends of the band, round over and dip to the middle, where an upright post rises to meet them under the orb; white pearls run along each arch and up the post. The purple cap fills the two openings in long upright panels. The gold orb has a teal girdle with a teal strip rising from it, and carries three pointed gold leaves round a red stone. The pearls are French knots; everything else is satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a quarter of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 5 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

5 colors of floss and 2 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 × 1.3 in	3.6 × 3.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2 in	5.6 × 5.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 2.6 in	7.4 × 6.6 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 3.3 in	9.1 × 8.4 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 4.6 in	12.7 × 11.7 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.
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 208 Very Dark LavenderCap of the crown
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawArches of the crown, band of the crown, rims of the band, orb and leaves on the orb
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseSide stones of the band and girdle of the orb
DMC 304 Medium RedMiddle stone of the band and stone on the orb
DMC B5200 Snow WhitePearls of the band and pearls of the arches

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 strandsCap of the crown, arches of the crown, band of the crown, rims of the band, stones of the band, orb, girdle of the orb, leaves on the orb, stone on the orb
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsPearls of the band, pearls of the arches

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.