Ranunculus vine heart hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Ranunculus vine heart: preview of the stitched design

A full ranunculus sits at the point of a heart made of two leafy branches: they rise from the flower, round over the lobes and end in a small curl each side of the cleft, with pairs of leaves as far as the curl. The branches are stem stitch and the leaves are satin stitch in a dark and a light green. The ranunculus has four rings of satin stitch petals, blush pink and a paler pink by turns, round a green satin stitch eye with a yellow French knot.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: short satin stitches, no shading; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

5 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)	1.6 × 1.7 in	4.1 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.5 in	6.1 × 6.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.4 in	8.1 × 8.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4.2 in	10.4 × 10.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5.9 in	14.5 × 15 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

In a 3 or 4 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 and ranunculus eye
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkFirst ring of ranunculus petals (the outermost) and third ring of ranunculus petals
DMC 3779 Very Light RosewoodSecond ring of ranunculus petals and fourth ring of ranunculus petals (the innermost)
DMC 726 Light TopazKnot on the ranunculus eye

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), first ring of ranunculus petals (the outermost), second ring of ranunculus petals, third ring of ranunculus petals, fourth ring of ranunculus petals (the innermost), ranunculus eye
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnot on the ranunculus eye

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.