Folk rose hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Folk rose: preview of the stitched design

A folk art rose is drawn as a rosette of eight heart-shaped petals round a small inner ring of petals and a gold center, on a straight stem with two leaves of three leaflets, two rosebuds and a heart at its foot. The petals, buds, sepals, center and heart are satin stitch with bare cloth left between them, the leaves are fishbone stitch, the stem and stalks are stem stitch and the blue dots round the rose are French knots.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

4 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 × 1.9 in	3.6 × 4.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.8 in	5.3 × 7.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 3.7 in	7.4 × 9.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 4.6 in	9.1 × 11.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 6.5 in	12.7 × 16.5 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 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 GreenStem, bud stalk, bud sepals, leaf stalk, leaf and sepal between petals
DMC 304 Medium RedRosebud, outer petal, inner petal and heart at the foot
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawFlower center
DMC 336 Navy BlueDot over each petal

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, bud stalk, leaf stalk
Satin stitch 2 strandsBud sepals, rosebud, outer petal, inner petal, sepal between petals, flower center, heart at the foot
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaf
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsDot over each petal

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.