Storm cloud with lightning bolt hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Storm cloud with lightning bolt: preview of the stitched design

A storm cloud sends one lightning bolt down from the middle of its flat underside, with rain falling on each side. The cloud is a navy outline: a dome in the middle, a shoulder on each side whose line curls around inside the cloud, and a small lobe at each end. The gold bolt is a broad zigzag that ends in a point. Five blue raindrops fall on each side of it. The cloud is stem stitch, the bolt is long and short stitch and the raindrops are satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch.

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)	1.6 × 1.7 in	4.1 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.5 in	6.1 × 6.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.3 in	8.1 × 8.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 4.2 in	10.2 × 10.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 5.8 in	14.2 × 14.7 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 336 Navy BlueCloud
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBolt
DMC 3755 Baby BlueRaindrops

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsCloud
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsBolt
Satin stitch 2 strandsRaindrops

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.