Sea turtle with a knot rim hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 5 kinds of stitch

Sea turtle with a knot rim: preview of the stitched design

A sea turtle is seen from above, its left half a mirror of its right. The shell outline and the seams of the shell are dark green stem stitch, and between the seams lie ten light green satin stitch plates, four down the middle and three at each side. Twenty-six gold French knots run round the rim of the shell at equal steps. The head is green long and short stitch with a gold French knot for an eye at each side, and the four pointed flippers are green fishbone stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch.

4 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)	1.7 × 1.5 in	4.3 × 3.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.3 in	6.6 × 5.8 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.4 × 3 in	8.6 × 7.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 3.8 in	10.9 × 9.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6 × 5.3 in	15.2 × 13.5 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

In a 3 or 4 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 320 Medium Pistachio GreenFlippers and head
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawEyes and knots round the rim
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenShell outline and seams of the shell
DMC 989 Forest GreenPlates

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

Fishbone stitch 2 strandsFlippers
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsHead
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEyes, knots round the rim
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsShell outline, seams of the shell
Satin stitch 2 strandsPlates

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.