Tulip wheel mandala hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Tulip wheel mandala: preview of the stitched design

Eight tulips stand in a wheel, raying out from a ring round the middle. The middle is a navy disc in padded satin stitch with eight gold French knots round it, inside a dark green ring of stem stitch. From the ring run eight dark green stems in stem stitch. Each stem carries two leaves in satin stitch, one half of each leaf light green and the other dark green, slanted to the center vein. Each stem ends in a tulip of three pointed petals in satin stitch, a gold middle petal between two red side petals. A navy line of eight arches in stem stitch runs round the whole, one arch over each tulip.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses padded satin stitch.

5 colors of floss and 4 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	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	6.4 × 6.4 in	16.3 × 16.3 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 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 336 Navy BlueMiddle and arches
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawKnots and middle petal of each tulip
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenRing, stems and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 304 Medium RedSide petals of each tulip

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

Padded satin stitch 2 strandsMiddle
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsRing, stems, arches
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), pointed petals

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.