Round petal Dresden plate hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 5 kinds of stitch

Round petal Dresden plate: preview of the stitched design

A Dresden plate has twelve round-ended petals round a middle ring, the seams in back stitch and the ring in stem stitch. Every petal holds one leaf in fishbone stitch, rust and gold by turns; inside the ring is a rust flower of six satin stitch petals, one pointing to each rust leaf, round a gold French knot.

Size and details

Easy. Line stitches, fishbone stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches.

3 colors of floss and 5 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.5 × 1.5 in	3.8 × 3.8 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.3 × 2.3 in	5.8 × 5.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3 × 3 in	7.6 × 7.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.8 × 3.8 in	9.7 × 9.7 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.3 × 5.3 in	13.5 × 13.5 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoisePetals and middle ring
DMC 355 Dark Terra CottaRust leaves and flower in the middle
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold leaves and center of the flower in the middle

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

Back stitch 2 strandsPetals
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsMiddle ring
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsLeaves
Satin stitch 2 strandsFlower in the middle
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsCenter of the flower in the middle

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.