| Size | 22 × 15 stitches |
|---|---|
| Colours | 5 · DMC |
| Total stitches | 158 |
| Difficulty | Beginner (1/5) |
| Finished on 14-count | 1.6 × 1.1 in (4 × 2.7 cm) |
| Finished on 16-count | 1.4 × 0.9 in (3.5 × 2.4 cm) |
| Finished on 18-count | 1.2 × 0.8 in (3.1 × 2.1 cm) |
| Licence | CC BY-NC 4.0 — free for personal use with credit |
Materials
About this design
This bee is all body: a rounded oval of alternating DMC 972 Canary Deep and 310 Black stripes, with a black head on the left, a single White eye stitch and a short black sting on the right. Two curved antennae sit above the head. The wings are B5200 Snow White outlined in 3753 Antique Blue Ultra Very Light, which keeps them visible on white fabric without looking heavy. It is one of the quickest designs in the library and a cheerful motif for spring.
How to work it
Stitch the black first: the outline, the head and the body stripes. Then fill the yellow between them, and finish with the wings, outlining in blue before filling with white. The antennae are single stitches; if you prefer, work them as backstitch lines in 310 instead.
Finishing ideas
At 22 × 15 stitches the design is about 1.6 × 1.1 inches (4.0 × 2.7 cm) on 14-count Aida and 1.2 × 0.8 inches on 18-count. Stitch it in a 3-inch hoop, on a card for a gardener, on the corner of a tea towel, or as a row of bees along a jam-jar cover.
Colour plan
DMC 310 Black does the most work, 43% of the 158 stitches, followed by DMC 972 Canary Deep at 27%. DMC BLANC White (1) is used only a little: small details worth marking on the chart so you don't miss them. 52% of the grid is left empty.
Working notes
10 squares stand alone in their colour, with no same-coloured neighbour along a side; stitch those as you pass rather than starting a new thread for each. The busiest row changes colour 10 times.
Anchor equivalents
The nearest Anchor colour for each DMC colour in this pattern, measured as ΔE 2000: up to 3 is very close, up to 6 close, up to 10 approximate.
This is an original CraftPatterns design, licensed CC BY-NC 4.0: stitch it, share it and gift what you make — please credit craftpatterns.app and don't sell the pattern itself. Want to change it? Open it in the cross stitch editor.
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