It’s been a long, long time since I posted any free hand embroidery patterns on Needle ‘n Thread! But the other day I came across this sweet little single flower in an old embroidery journal that was crumbling in my hands as I opened it, and I salvaged the pattern by tracing it. Then I dumped it onto the computer to make a clean line drawing of it, and today, I’m giving it to you!
Let me show you the little design and then tell you why it caught my eye.
It’s a simple little design for embroidery, isn’t it? There’s nothing there that, really, you or I couldn’t have doodled up if we had tried, right?
I suppose it caught my eye because of its simplicity. Simple little embroidery designs like this can be really versatile. They can be interpreted in all kinds of embroidery techniques. This could make a beginning project in silk shading, for example, or in goldwork. It could also be embroidered in a variety of surface stitches, in practically any type of thread. And it can cover an angle or serve as a focus point in a crazy quilt square.
Point is: You can do a lot with a simple little design like this!
I haven’t done anything with it yet, but maybe some day… In the meantime, though, you can play with it to your heart’s content!
Here’s a PDF. The design prints at about 3″ high, but you can enlarge it or reduce it as you see fit.
Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Simple Flower (PDF)
Enjoy!
If you’re looking for something fun to stitch up, you can find plenty more free hand embroidery patterns here on Needle ‘n Thread!
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I truly agree with you that sometimes simple designs can turn into small works of art. Thank you for sharing 🙂
Jaunty! Love that little curlycue and the bold curve of the stem.
Thank you for the design, Mary. As you said, simple, and good for so many techniques.
Thank you Mary for sharing .I love to much this flower
Mary,
You said you traced it and then put it on the computer to get a clean line drawing. Can you explain this a bit more? Is this a special program you have that creates the line drawings? If so, what’s the name of it?
Hi, Jennifer – you can use either Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape. If you don’t have Illustrator, it’s pretty pricey, but Inkscape is shareware, so you can download it free. ~MC
Thanks, Mary! My husband tells me we have that, so I am going to have to play with it! Thanks so much!
Thank you! I think there is a Tea Towel in my drawer that would like dressing up with this. And then who knows?
lovely design