Upright peacock feather hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Upright peacock feather: preview of the stitched design

A single peacock feather stands upright, the same on both sides. A dark green shaft comes to a point at the foot and rises to the eye in the upper half. Long curved barbs sweep up and out on both sides of the shaft and around the eye, dark green and lighter green by turns, so that their tips trace one teardrop shape. The eye is three egg shapes, one inside another: the gold rim of the eye, the teal band of the eye and the navy heart of the eye. The barbs are stem stitch; the shaft and the three parts of the eye are satin stitch.

Size and details

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

5 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)	0.9 × 1.7 in	2.3 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.4 × 2.6 in	3.6 × 6.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	1.9 × 3.4 in	4.8 × 8.6 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	2.3 × 4.3 in	5.8 × 10.9 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	3.3 × 6 in	8.4 × 15.2 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.

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 GreenLighter green barbs
DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenDarker green barbs and shaft
DMC 3809 Very Dark TurquoiseBand of the eye
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawRim of the eye
DMC 336 Navy BlueHeart of the eye

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 strandsBarbs
Satin stitch 2 strandsBand of the eye, rim of the eye, shaft, heart of the eye

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.