Below the common tern, five silver fish each turn in a different direction. This downloadable embroidery pattern keeps the forked tail and unequal wings above curved waves rather than blending the shoal into one filled patch.
Are the five fish worked as one silver patch?
Each fish is a separate body with its own direction, head and fins. Keeping their outlines distinct preserves the shoal's movement beneath the tern.
Bird and setting
Common Tern Above the Silver Shoal combines a broad airborne silhouette with five smaller moving forms. Work the wave structure first, then keep each fish complete and let the tern's forked tail remain sharply divided.
PDFs and supporting files
- 16-page design-specific Stitch Guide PDF with region key, DMC palette and recommended sequence
- Full-size A3 transfer PDF and matching SVG
- White and transparent 600 dpi linework PNGs
- Colour reference JPG and thread-and-region recipe CSV
- Hand Embroidery Stitch Sampler, Essential Needlework Handbook PDF
- READ_ME instructions
Placing the full design
Artwork canvas: 300 x 232 mm, landscape, including the open background areas. Print the separate A3 transfer at Actual Size / 100% and check the 50 mm control bar. Guide previews are reduced. These are canvas dimensions, not a finished hoop, cushion or bag size. The Stitch Guide itself uses US Letter pages.
Feathers, contours and small details
The guide maps 12 working regions with local stitch direction, strand count and DMC colour recipes. Use the region key and recommended sequence to follow the overlaps and changes in shading. Mapped techniques include broken long-and-short fill, split stitch, directional long-and-short.
Materials to prepare
Suggested fabric: deep blue-violet linen. The palette proposes 15 DMC shades for stranded cotton. Supply your own needles, hoop or frame and a transfer method suitable for the cloth. Test the transfer and physical thread colours on a small swatch first.
Download format and licence
Digital files only. No fabric, thread, tools or finished embroidery is supplied. Colour references and lifestyle mockups show design and presentation ideas. For personal, non-commercial use. Do not share, redistribute or resell the digital files.
