Thursday market day hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Thursday market day: preview of the stitched design

THURSDAY is arched in block capitals of satin stitch over a market basket with an arched handle, heaped with five apples under two leaves. The basket is outlined in stem stitch with rows of wicker in stem stitch, its handle and rim are bands of satin stitch, and the apples and their two leaves are satin stitch. Two laurel branches of satin stitch leaves on stem stitch stems rise from a satin stitch blossom at the foot, a French knot at its center, and curve up to the two ends of the name, so that the name and the branches make one ring; the wreath is the same in all seven designs of the set, one for each day of the week.

Size and details

Intermediate. A great deal of stitching; from a 6 inch hoop up the widest satin stitches are long.

5 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)	1.9 × 1.9 in	4.8 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.8 × 2.9 in	7.1 × 7.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.7 × 3.8 in	9.4 × 9.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.6 × 4.8 in	11.7 × 12.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.5 × 6.7 in	16.5 × 17 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenStems, darker half of each leaf and darker half of each apple leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf and lighter half of each apple leaf
DMC 304 Medium RedBlossom petals and apples
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawBlossom center, basket handle, wicker and basket rim
DMC 336 Navy BlueName and basket outline

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 strandsStems, basket outline, wicker
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), blossom petals, name, basket handle, apples, apple leaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), basket rim
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsBlossom center

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.