Sheep face in a scalloped fleece hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Sheep face in a scalloped fleece: preview of the stitched design

A sheep’s face is seen from the front in its fleece, the same left and right. The fleece is one round of gray scallops, outlined only, right around the head, with a smaller scalloped topknot outlined over the brow. The face is a brown outline rounded at the chin, and an ear with a pink inside points out at each side. A pink nose sits low on the face, and the eyes and mouth are brown lines. The fleece outline and the topknot outline are chain stitch; the outlines of the ears, the face outline, the eyes and the mouth are stem stitch; the insides of the ears and the nose are satin stitch.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: chain stitch and stem stitch, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

3 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 × 1.5 in	4.3 × 3.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.6 × 2.2 in	6.6 × 5.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 2.9 in	8.9 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.3 × 3.7 in	10.9 × 9.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.1 × 5.1 in	15.5 × 13 cm	7/16 in (11 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 414 Dark Steel GrayFleece outline and topknot outline
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownOutlines of the ears, face outline, eyes and mouth
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseInsides of the ears and nose

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 strandsFleece outline, topknot outline
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutlines of the ears, face outline, eyes, mouth
Satin stitch 2 strandsInsides of the ears, nose

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.