Matryoshka doll hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 6 kinds of stitch

Matryoshka doll: preview of the stitched design

A single wooden matryoshka faces you in a dotted headscarf knotted under her chin, with side-parted hair, rosy cheeks and a rounded apron that carries a spray of three flowers. The doll, her scarf and her apron are stem stitch and back stitch, the petals and leaves are lazy daisy stitches, the hair, cheeks, lips and scarf knot are satin stitch, the dots and flower centers are French knots and the apron edge is running stitch.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: line stitches, lazy daisy stitch and French knots, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

4 colors of floss and 6 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.1 × 1.9 in	2.8 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.7 × 2.8 in	4.3 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.2 × 3.7 in	5.6 × 9.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	2.8 × 4.6 in	7.1 × 11.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	3.9 × 6.5 in	9.9 × 16.5 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

In a 3 inch hoop the French knots and the shortest lazy daisy loops 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 304 Medium RedDoll, edge of the scarf, face, ends of the scarf, knot of the scarf, cheeks, lips, apron, stitched edge of the apron, petals of the large flower and centers of the small flowers
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownHair, eyebrows and eyes
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenFlower stems and leaves
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawPetals of the small flowers, center of the large flower and dots on the scarf

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 strandsDoll, face, ends of the scarf, eyebrows, flower stems
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsEdge of the scarf, apron
Satin stitch 2 strandsHair, knot of the scarf, cheeks, lips
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEyes, center of the large flower, centers of the small flowers, dots on the scarf
Running stitch 3 strandsStitched edge of the apron
Lazy daisy stitch 2 strandsLeaves, petals of the large flower, petals of the small flowers

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.