Embroidered flower bouquet, Part 1

Here is an example of how to put in practice some of the stitches that we learned earlier :)

Since November, we've been learning some stitches for realistic flowers. And now, I decided that embroidering a bouquet using at least some of them would be a nice demonstration of these stitches in action.

What do you think?

It's not really a tutorial and not exactly a stitch along. My goal is just to show what you can do with the stitches we've learned, and also to invite you to try your hand on making a bouquet yourself.

My bouquet might be a bit too cheerful and bright for this winter season, but these colors just begged to be used. I suppose I already miss spring and summer time, haha. But if you want to appreciate winter season more, you can switch up the color palette to match your mood :)

Also, the bouquet that I'm working is a little random. I didn't really plan anything in detail, didn't create any pattern that could be transferred on fabric to follow it. Rather, it is more of an improvisation, actually: I just decided on what kind of flowers I want to make, thought of an approximate placement and then went with the flow.

The center of the bouquet was deemed to be this big rich flower. I had a ranunculus in mind when working it, but I suppose it is too “open” for it, no?

Truth be told, I'm not that good at botany. Although I do love flowers, my appreciation for them is mostly visual and inspirational, and I'm sadly not good with memorizing their names. So, I will probably call the flowers in my bouquet as “flowers”, haha. But if they remind you of any sort in particular, then make sure to mention it in the comments! :)

Going back to our center flower, I was already on my third row of looped blanket stitch there in the picture above. All in all, I used 5 colors of cotton floss to work it, and I don't even want to count the final number of rows, haha.

Actually, the reason I don't usually work these dimensional flowers is that the thread expenditure is like through the roof, so as a 1-2-strands embroidering enthusiast I was working it while clenching my heart.

Nevertheless, nothing can create the same effect, same dimension, and glory for this flower, like working it 6 strands of floss and many rows.

It looks frankly majestic.

By the way, there are French knots in the center there. If you struggle with them, read the recent crash course for all the vital tips!

After completing the flower, I decided to add some background greenery. It's pretty simple, really – just stems with lazy daisy stitches, I worked them in 2 strands of floss so that there wouldn't be too big of a difference in dimension between the flower and the background.

I didn't want lazy daisy stitches to be empty looking, so I filled them with one straight stitch. All in all, there are 3 colors of floss used for this type of plants in the bouquet.

And then there are pretty simplistic leaves, worked in satin stitch with 2 strands of floss again. The stems are worked in split stitch in 1 strand of floss, and they also got central vines in simple stem stitch. 

Here is the final look of the flower + background greenery.

I might add some more green stuff later, it will depend on how “full” the bouquet will look after adding other flowers. But for now, I suppose it is enough!

I add all the things on the move. As you might notice, a few circles appeared there – I plan on having some fluffy balls out of turkey stitch there. I already have one ready, but others are still waiting for their turn so I won't post an incomplete picture, hehe.

Also, that area between the flowers and greenery and the stems looks awkward now. It's fine because there will be a ribbon later (at least that's the plan), which will hide everything that looks clumsy as of now.

Wait for the Part 2 to see how this bouquet progresses to its final look!

And in the meanwhile, you can start your own one! (wink wink)