Straw bee skep with three bees hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Straw bee skep with three bees: preview of the stitched design

A straw bee skep sits on a low stand and is seen from the front. Eight gold coils of straw lie one on another and draw in to a round crown, with a brown arched door at the foot of the skep. The stand is tan, with a flat top and two short legs. Three bees fly around the skep, one above the crown and one at each side, each brown with gold and brown stripes and two wings. The coils, the door, the top and legs of the stand, and the bees with their stripes are satin stitch, each coil laid on a slant; the outlines of the wings are brown stem stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a quarter of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

3 colors of floss and 2 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	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.6 in	6.1 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.1 × 3.4 in	7.9 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.9 × 4.3 in	9.9 × 10.9 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.5 × 6 in	14 × 15.2 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 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 3852 Very Dark StrawCoils of straw and side stripes of the bees
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownDoor of the skep, outlines of the wings of the bees, middle stripe of the bees, and heads and bodies of the bees
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownTop of the stand and legs of the stand

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

Satin stitch 2 strandsCoils of straw, door of the skep, top of the stand, legs of the stand, stripes of the bees, heads and bodies of the bees
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsOutlines of the wings of the bees

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.