Three fish in a wheel hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 5 kinds of stitch

Three fish in a wheel: preview of the stitched design

Three fish make a wheel, seen from above, with their noses on a round middle and their forked tails pointing outward. Each fish is outlined in navy stem stitch and crossed by rows of teal back stitch scales, with two navy French knot eyes near the nose. Each fish tail and the two fish fins, one on each side of the fish, are orange satin stitch, and so is the middle. Between each two fish a frond of water weed grows out from the middle: a green stem stitch stalk with seven green fishbone stitch leaves.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

4 colors of floss and 5 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)	2.6 × 2.7 in	6.6 × 6.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.5 × 3.6 in	8.9 × 9.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.4 × 4.5 in	11.2 × 11.4 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.2 × 6.4 in	15.7 × 16.3 cm	11/16 in (17 mm)

In a 6 or 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 mm) or more 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 320 Medium Pistachio GreenWater weed stalks and water weed leaves
DMC 922 Light CopperFish tails, fish fins and middle
DMC 336 Navy BlueFish outlines and fish eyes
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseFish scales

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 strandsWater weed stalks, fish outlines
Fishbone stitch 2 strandsWater weed leaves
Satin stitch 2 strandsFish tails, fish fins, middle
Back stitch 2 strandsFish scales
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsFish eyes

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.