Violin between laurel branches hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Violin between laurel branches: preview of the stitched design

A violin is seen from the front between two laurel branches. The body is two rust outlines, one just inside the other. The brown fingerboard and scroll run up the middle, with a gold nut and four brown tuning pegs, two on each side. Four gold strings run from the end of the fingerboard over a gold bridge to the brown tailpiece, with a brown f-hole on either side. The laurel branches rise from behind the lower part of the body, each leaf half dark green and half light green. The body and the stems are stem stitch, the strings are back stitch, the eyes of the f-holes are French knots and the rest is 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 × 1.9 in	4.1 × 4.8 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.9 in	6.1 × 7.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.8 in	8.1 × 9.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 4.8 in	10.2 × 12.2 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 6.7 in	14.2 × 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 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenStems and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 355 Dark Terra CottaBody
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawStrings, bridge and nut
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownF-holes, eyes of the f-holes, tailpiece, tuning pegs, and fingerboard and scroll

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, body
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), f-holes, bridge, tailpiece, tuning pegs, fingerboard and scroll, nut
Back stitch 2 strandsStrings
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsEyes of the f-holes

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.