Roses are a staple in the wider art world and in the more specific world of embroidered art, and for all kinds of good reasons. Among those reasons is the obvious fact that they are beautiful flowers. Another reason? Roses have been used symbolically throughout history – from heraldic symbolism to religious symbolism to personal and sentimental symbolism, roses have meaning.

When it comes to design, you can find all kinds of rose designs out there, from the very stylized to the very realistic.

The rose-related embroidery designs here on Needle ‘n Thread are stylized rather than realistic. Most of them are inspired by the symbolic roses that show up in ecclesiastical or heraldic needlework and art from past centuries. Extracted into single design elements or distilled into smaller designs, they make lovely options for embroidered art.

Besides a plethora of rose-related embroidery designs, you’ll find a few stitch tutorials available here, too, for embroidering roses.

So, today, a short tribute to the rose – a beautiful flower worthy of your embroidery efforts!