Rowboat among ripples hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Rowboat among ripples: preview of the stitched design

A rowboat is seen from straight above among ripples, its pointed bow at the top. A navy gunwale, the rim of the boat, runs around it. Inside are a red bow deck at the top, a red stern seat at the foot and two tan thwarts, the cross seats, between them, with the keel a navy line down the middle. A tan oar reaches out to each side, with a red oar collar where it crosses the gunwale and a red oar blade at its outer end. Eight blue arcs of ripples sit in pairs toward the four corners. The ripples are chain stitch and the keel is stem stitch; the gunwale, bow deck, stern seat, thwarts, oars, oar collars and oar blades are satin stitch.

Size and details

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

4 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)	1.7 × 1.7 in	4.3 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.5 in	6.6 × 6.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3.3 in	8.6 × 8.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 4.1 in	10.9 × 10.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6 × 5.8 in	15.2 × 14.7 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.

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

What you need

DMC 3755 Baby BlueRipples
DMC 336 Navy BlueKeel and gunwale
DMC 304 Medium RedBow deck and stern seat, oar blades, and oar collars
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownThwarts and oars

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

Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsRipples
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsKeel
Satin stitch 2 strandsBow deck and stern seat, thwarts, gunwale, oars, oar blades, oar collars

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.