Triple Fern in DMC - PAT0003 - Downloadable PDF

Triple Fern Embroidery Pattern by Joanna Saunders for DMC – Detailed Summary

The Triple Fern pattern, also known as Trois Fougères, is a beautiful hand embroidery design created by Joanna Saunders of Sew & Saunders in collaboration with DMC. Available as a free downloadable PDF, this intermediate-level project invites embroiderers to stitch a lush, botanically inspired composition featuring three fern designs, each filled with detailed leaf work rendered in a harmonious palette of greens.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a hand-embroidered triple fern design — three individual fern motifs worked onto fabric. The design is characterised by layered leaf forms filled with a variety of hand embroidery stitches, creating rich texture and depth. The finished piece is well suited for framing, hoop art display, or incorporation into textile projects. The bilingual instructions (English and French) reflect the international collaboration between Sew & Saunders and DMC.

Design Details and Composition

The pattern features three distinct fern motifs, each with multiple leaves. The interior of every leaf is filled using embroidery stitches, making this a stitch-dense and rewarding project for those with some embroidery experience. The colour guide and technical chart provided in the PDF clearly map out which stitches and thread colours are applied to each section of the design, labelled with a clear letter and number coding system (A1, A2, A3, B1, C2, D3, and so on).

Stitches Used

The Triple Fern pattern draws on four core hand embroidery stitches, each assigned a letter code in the technical chart:

• Stem Stitch (Point de tige) – Code A: A classic outline stitch worked by overlapping short stitches along a line, producing a twisted rope-like effect. It is commonly used for outlines, stems, and curved lines in botanical embroidery.
• Satin Stitch (Passé plat) – Code B: Smooth, closely packed parallel stitches that lie flat across a shape, creating a solid, lustrous fill. Satin stitch is ideal for leaf sections where a clean, polished surface is desired.
• Buttonhole Stitch (Point de feston) – Code C: A looped stitch traditionally used for finishing fabric edges but widely employed in embroidery to create decorative borders and textured fills along leaf edges and shapes.
• Long and Short Filling Stitch – Code D: A shading technique where alternating long and short stitches are layered to blend colours smoothly and fill larger areas with a naturalistic, painterly quality. This stitch is particularly effective for the interior leaf areas of the fern design.

Techniques Used

As an intermediate embroidery project, Triple Fern requires familiarity with multiple stitch types and the ability to combine them within a single design. Key techniques include:

• Design transfer: The pattern instructs the use of a Magic Sheet, transfer pen, or transfer paper to accurately copy the fern motif onto the fabric before stitching begins.
• Colour mapping: The included colour guide and technical chart allow embroiderers to follow a precise stitch-and-colour plan, ensuring consistency across all three fern motifs.
• Filling techniques: The majority of the leaf interiors are filled using a combination of satin stitch, long and short stitch, and buttonhole stitch, requiring control over stitch direction and tension to achieve smooth, even coverage.
• Outline and structure: Stem stitch is used to define the structural lines of the ferns, providing crisp, confident outlines that anchor the filled areas.

Materials Required

• Thread: DMC Mouliné Spécial ART 117 stranded cotton embroidery floss in three colours:
  • DMC 986 – one skein
  • DMC 319 – one skein
  • DMC 3013 – one skein
• Needle: