Two fish leaping over the sun hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Two fish leaping over the sun: preview of the stitched design

Two fish leap toward each other over a rising sun, a mirror pair. Each fish curves up from a forked orange tail to its head at the top, with a large orange fin on its outer side and a small one on its inner side. Each is a navy stem stitch outline with a stem stitch gill line, a French knot eye and rows of teal back stitch scales. Below, the gold sun sits inside a gold ring with five pointed rays, half hidden behind the first of three waves, which are teal, blue and teal from the top down. The sun, its ring, the rays, the waves, the tails and the fins are satin stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 6 inch hoop up.

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)	1.6 × 1.5 in	4.1 × 3.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.3 in	6.1 × 5.8 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.1 in	8.1 × 7.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.9 in	10.2 × 9.9 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 5.4 in	14.2 × 13.7 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 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 3852 Very Dark StrawSun rays, ring of the sun and sun
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseTeal waves and fish scales
DMC 3755 Baby BlueMiddle wave
DMC 922 Light CopperFish tail and fish fins
DMC 336 Navy BlueFish outline, fish gill line and fish eyes

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

Satin stitch 2 strandsSun rays, ring of the sun, sun, waves, fish tail, fish fins
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsFish outline, fish gill line
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.