Toy abacus with colored beads hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 6 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Toy abacus with colored beads: preview of the stitched design

A toy abacus is seen from the front, the same left and right. Its navy frame is two posts, each with a round knob on top, joined by a bar across the top and a bar across the foot. Between the bars run five navy rods, and the beads on each rod are pushed out to the two posts: two red beads at each end of the top rod, then three orange, four gold, three green and two blue on the lowest rod. The beads, the bars of the frame, the posts and their knobs are satin stitch and the rods are stem 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.

6 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)	1.5 × 1.3 in	3.8 × 3.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2 in	5.6 × 5.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 2.6 in	7.4 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 3.3 in	9.1 × 8.4 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.1 × 4.6 in	13 × 11.7 cm	3/8 in (10 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 336 Navy BlueRods, bars of the frame, posts of the frame and knobs of the posts
DMC 304 Medium RedRed beads
DMC 922 Light CopperOrange beads
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold beads
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenGreen beads
DMC 3755 Baby BlueBlue beads

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 strandsRods
Satin stitch 2 strandsBeads, bars of the frame, posts of the frame, knobs of the posts

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.