Sunshine face hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 4 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Sunshine face: preview of the stitched design

The sunshine face is smiling. The face is a ring of chain stitch with sixteen pointed rays round it, long and short by turns, each a full shape worked across in satin stitch; the two closed eyes and the smile are curves of stem stitch, and each cheek is a small round of satin stitch.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: short satin stitches, no shading; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

4 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	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.7 in	6.9 × 6.9 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.6 in	9.1 × 9.1 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.6 in	11.7 × 11.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 6.4 in	16.3 × 16.3 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 3852 Very Dark StrawFace and short rays
DMC 922 Light CopperLong rays
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownEyes and smile
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseCheeks

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 strandsFace
Satin stitch 2 strandsLong rays, short rays, cheeks
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsEyes and smile

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.