Sunflower ring border hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Sunflower ring border: preview of the stitched design

A sunflower is drawn as a ring with its middle left empty. Twenty-four gold pointed petals stand round the opening, and twenty-four yellow pointed petals show behind and between them, reaching farther out. All the pointed petals are satin stitch. Inside the petals runs a row of twenty-four brown French knots, and inside the knots a brown ring of chain stitch frames the empty middle. The open middle takes a name, a date or a monogram.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a third of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop and a great deal of stitching; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the 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)	1.8 × 1.8 in	4.6 × 4.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.7 in	6.9 × 6.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.6 in	9.1 × 9.1 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.6 in	11.7 × 11.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 6.4 in	16.3 × 16.3 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.
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 726 Light TopazOuter pointed petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawInner pointed petals
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownKnots and ring

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 strandsPointed petals
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots
Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsRing

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.