Emperor Penguin and Chick Embroidery Pattern By Megan Zaniewski @megembroiders 1 Pattern * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 2 Supplies ● Fabric: For this style of embroidery, many artists are partial to linens and cottons for their tighter weave. I prefer Robert Kaufman Kona cotton fabric for my embroideries. ● Water-soluble transfer pen ● DMC 6-stranded cotton embroidery floss in the following colors: ECRU, 03, 04, 310, 415, 535, 745, 922, 3799, 3827, 3865 ● Needle: I use John James needles from the Sharps collection in size 9 ● Hoop: This pattern was made for a 4 inch (101.6 mm) round hoop. You may also adjust the scale when printing to fit a smaller or larger hoop. Transferring the Pattern and Preparing the hoop Print the image to the scale desired. This pattern is designed for a 4 inch hoop but can be adjusted to fit a larger or smaller hoop. Note: if you are thinking about embroidering this design on a larger scale, keep in mind that the project will take significantly longer, as you will be stitching with only 1 strand throughout. Needlepainting is time-consuming even on a small scale. For that reason, I generally keep my needlepainted designs no larger than 6 or 7 inches. For transferring designs, I prefer to use a water soluble pen or pencil. I advise against using Frixion heat-erasable pens as they are not designed for use on fabric. They leave permanent ghost marks on even light colored fabrics that cannot be erased, and the ink reappears in colder temperatures. You may use a lightbox or brightly lit window to transfer your design. Simply tape the printed copy to the window or lightbox. Place the fabric on top and secure it with tape. After tracing, you can remove the tape and place your fabric in the hoop. Alternatively, you can skip printing and trace directly from your computer screen by placing your fabric over the screen. Once your design is traced, lay your fabric on a flat surface. Place the inside ring of your embroidery hoop under your fabric and align the top ring above the fabric, so that the fabric is secured between the hoops. If you plan on displaying your * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 3 embroidery in the hoop, cut the excess fabric away but leave about 1 1/2 inches of spare fabric around the entire perimeter of the outer hoop. Alternatively, you may want to display your final embroidery in other unique ways. You can turn it into a patch, a brooch, a coin purse, a quilt square, a small pillow, or some other type of embellishment. In such cases, cut your excess fabric to fit your needs. Tension Fabric should be taut like a drum. It should not be sagging or loose. You can tighten your fabric by pulling at the excess fabric around the edges of the hoop and by tightening the hardware at the top of your hoop. It is natural to lose tension as you embroider, so you may need to adjust the tension throughout your project. Loose fabric will result in unsightly puckering and wrinkles that are difficult, if not impossible, to remove. Plastic hoops generally offer better tension than wooden hoops. Some artists choose to wrap their inner hoop with twill tape to help secure their fabric. You can find tutorials for this method online. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 4 Instructions for Embroidering the Emperor Chick Using 1 strand of DMC 310, fill in the top of the penguin chick’s head with a satin stitch. With 1 strand of DMC 3865, fill in the part below the black cap of the penguin chick’s head. Details like the eyes and beak will be added over this layer in a later step. With 1 strand of DMC 415, create a series of staggered long and short stitches along the neckline below the head. These stitches should be about 1/2 cm. While longer stitches can fill in an area more quickly, they look stiff and less natural. Continue beyond the neckline to fill in the top half of the wings as well. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 5 In 1 strand of DMC 03, start along the bottom edge of the penguin’s right wing, and angle long and short stitches up to meet the top row of stitches, blending the two colors together by tucking your stitches in between the top stitches. When blending, it is important to nestle the stitches closely together, taking care not to split the threads of the first row of stitches. Continue the row of stitches along the breast of the penguin chick, bringing your stitches from the midline of his chest to the row of stitches along his neck. Extend the color down the sides of the penguin, stopping about ½ cm above the feet. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 6 * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 7 With 1 strand of DMC 04 continue to use small long and short stitches to fill in the lower belly of the penguin chick, leaving the parent emperor’s feet unstitched. Using 1 strand of DMC 535, blend in a few scattered stitches for shadows to the underbelly, along the bottom of the chick and the upward curve of its inner legs. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 8 Finishing details for Chick: With 1 strand of DMC 535, add the dark gray around the outer edges of the face/neck. With 1 strand of DMC 310, looped once around the needle, make 2 french knots for eyes. With 1 strand of DMC 04, make a beak using 1 or 2 seed stitches. Instructions for Embroidering the Emperor Adult Using 1 strand of DMC 310, begin at the tip of the beak and start filling in the head with long and short stitches. Long ,straight stitches will not convey a natural feather pattern or the contour of the bird’s head, so use shorter stitches to curve your * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 9 stitching to the shape of the sloping head. When filling in an area like this, I first create a few guiding stitches and then fill in the space between once I have established the direction and angle I want my stitches to flow. With 1 strand of DMC 3799, blend highlights at the top of the neck, sloping down to the head. In the same color, fill in the top half of each wing with short straight stitches. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 10 The underside of the adult penguin's wings are lighter than the top. Use 1 strand of DMC 04 to fill in the area of the wing closest to the body with short straight stitches. With 1 strand of DMC 922, fill in the narrow orange detail on the beak with about 3 or 4 straight stitches. Use the same color to add very small long and short stitches to the colorful section of the neck. Blend DMC 3827 and DMC 745 to complete the neck detail using long and short stitches. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 11 Blend 1 strand of DMC 04 to the very top of the neck. Using 1 strand of DMC 3865, create guide stitches that radiate out from the yellow portion of the neck. Try to avoid making straight, stiff stitches by shortening or lengthening the stitches as needed around curved areas of the neck. These stitches should flow in the natural direction that the feathers would lay. Using 1 strand of DMC 3865, outline the belly of the adult emperor and fill in the belly with guide (straight) stitches of varying length, no more than 1 cm long. These stitches should not be perfectly vertical. Use slight angles to create an illusion of a curved belly. FIll in the space between the guiding stitches using DMC 3865 and ECRU. Alternate frequently so that the colors are blended well and the belly is completely filled. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 12 The adult emperor’s feet are stitched with 1 strand of DMC 3799. You can use satin stitch or long and short stitches to fill in the toes. Use 1 strand of 04 to add 2 seed stitches to each toe to form a toenail. * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern. 13 Finishing Your Hoop Remove the hoop before washing your water soluble pen. Let your embroidery dry flat. Once dry, you can reinsert it into the hoop. To finish an embroidery that I intend to leave in the hoop, I create a running stitch along the excess fabric in the back and cinch it tight, tying off and knotting the end to secure the fabric. For other ideas, I suggest you checkout @hoopbutts for a page showcasing the many creative ways you can finish the backside of a hoop. I hope you enjoyed this pattern and tutorial! As always, I’d love to see your finished pieces and works in progress and hear your feedback, so tag me on Instagram @megembroiders or DM me! * The design is for personal use only. Per copyright law, you may not replicate this design for sale. When sharing your finished embroideries on social media, please credit the pattern.
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