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!
Looking for inspiration & information on hand embroidery?
There are all kinds of reasons to sign up for the Needle ‘n Thread daily newsletter! Check them out and sign up today!
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!
Inkscape is *not* shareware. It is free software in the free-as-in-freedom sense. You can redistribute or modify it under GPL version 3 or later.
I know the comment here is old, but if you see Inkscape offered as shareware, that is a violation of the licence just as much as it would be a violation of Adobe’s licence if somebody offered you a pirated copy of Illustrator. Redistribution under a shareware licence is illegal. Anybody who offers you Inkscape (modified or otherwise) has to do so under GPL v3 or later. They have to allow you to modify and redistribute it under the same conditions. Offering it to you as shareware would absolutely not be consistent with the licence under which *they* received it.
There is nothing in the licence to prevent somebody charging you for Inkscape. But they can’t give it to you without giving you the same rights the GPL gives them.
Oh, sorry. Yeah, that’s true. However, not really going into the nitty gritty of software development terminology here on an embroidery blog. I think it’s clear what I meant – you don’t have to pay for Inkscape the way you have to pay for Adobe products.
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
Your website is very helpful