Mini Stitchery - Embroidery Bouquet

Size really doesn’t matter!

Small Projects can be just as much fun as the larger ones – the best bit is, you see the results so much quicker so you get a real sense of accomplishment in a short space of time.

Take a look at this cute little Bouquet I stitched in less than a day! The finished size is approx. 2 1/4inches wide x 2.5inches high.

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Would you like to stitch your own Mini Bouquet?

Materials Required…

100% Wool Felt or Wool Blended Felt – small amount about 2 x 5inches Square
Sticky Fabri Solvy (SFS) for transferring the Pattern
Embroidery Threads – small amounts – perfect for using up your stash!
Pen to trace on to the SFS
Needle, Sharp Embroidery Scissors
Sewing thread to match the felt colour
Brooch Back, Keyring or Ribbon depending on what you want it to be when complete – I made a brooch

You will also need the Pattern Template…

You can get the FREE template from the Stitchdoodles Pattern Resource Library – you can get access to this through the link at the bottom of this post. There is lot’s more fun stuff in there as well.

Choose the right Felt for Hand Embroidery

Felt comes in various forms but what I can say from experience is – make sure you use a 100% wool felt or one with as high a wool content as possible as this makes a huge difference. Synthetic and cheaper felt are not as strong and when it comes to stitching close to the edge it can be very friable. It also tends to lose condition and bobble so for something like a brooch or keyring that will get handled it really does make sense to use a quality felt.

You can find out more about choosing the right felt here...

To Start:

Download the Free tempate from the Resource library (go to the bottom of the page if you are not already a subscriber). Once downloaded, trace the design on to the Sticky Fabri Solvy (SFS), peel off the backing and then stick this to the felt.

SFS is a water soluble stabiliser that is perfect for transferring designs on to thick and dark fabrics – if you are not familiar with this you can find out more here…

Let’s get stitching…

Choose your Embroidery Thread

I used DMC stranded thread in the following colours, but feel free to choose your own colours depending on what you have available. Use 2 strands throughout unless stated otherwise.

Stitching the design…

For those of you who like to add your own spin to things, feel free to use whichever stitches take your fancy for all the different elements but, if you are someone who is a beginner or who prefers to follow a pattern, I’ve got all the information for you, step by step right here.

Use the following picture so you know which flowers I am referring to…

I won’t reference the colour number of the thread for each of the different parts as they are quite distinctive to be able to follow along.

Flower 1

Satin Stitch each purple petal
Use 1 strand to straight stitch the light pink edge stitches
Straight stitch the peach centre – come out on the edge and go in at the centre- vary the length of these stitches.

Flower 2

Lazy Daisy the flower in dusky pink
Straight stitch a purple centre
French Knot in light pink to the centre.

Flowers 3, 4 and 5 and the Stems

Flower 3: Straight stitch the bright pink petals around the centre and add 1 or 2 light pink french knots to the centre.
Flower 4: Peach French Knots to fill the shape.
Flower 5: Lazy Daisy in Purple and straight stitch from outer edge into the centre with peach.
Stems: Split stitch in Moss Green.

Leaves and Extra’s

In the picture below you can see there are extra little bits of color added here and there – stitched with split stitch for the lines and french knots.
The Leaves were all stitched with Fishbone stitch.

The Bow

Using Yellow, Satin stitch the left and right main bow areas and then split stitch the 2 ends hanging down. To finish, satin stitch the centre of the bow.

You should now have all your bouquet elements complete which means its time to make it in to a brooch.

Cut out the Bouquet…

Before we remove the SFS, you need to cut around the bouquet to remove the excess felt. Make sure you use very sharp embroidery scissors so you can cut as close to the edge as you feel comfortable with. I left about 1/8th inch of felt around the stitched areas but if this is too close – try for about a 1/4inch.

Make sure you check the back of your work as you cut around and go carefully – you don’t want to snip off any threads at the back and ruin your lovely stitching at this point. You should be left with a lovely cut out bouquet when you are done.

Soak off the SFS…

Pop your stitched piece in a small bowl of luke warm water and allow to soak for 40 mins to loosen the SFS.

Remove from the bowl and if there are any stubborn bits left – run under a luke warm tap and use a small soft paint brush to gently help remove them.

Place between 2 towels and press to remove the excess water and then leave to dry.

Here’s how it looks once all that is complete…

Making your Brooch

I will show you how to make this into a brooch but of course you could decide on a keyring or a simple hanging decoration. Gather the supplies you need, for a brooch this requires the following…

Piece of felt in matching colour about an inch bigger all around than the completed bouquet.
Sewing thread to match the felt colour.
Needle.
Brooch Pin.

Make sure you read through all of the follwoing steps before attempting so that you completely understand – you don’t want to have done all that lovely stitching and then ruin it at the last hurdle!

Place your stitched bouquet on top of the second felt piece and flip it over so you can decide the best placement of the brooch pin.

Stitch the brooch pin in place on the back of the piece of felt.

Stitch around the edge

Place the Bouquet right side up on to the backing felt so the brooch pin is on the outer back and in the correct postion. You are going to sew the 2 pieces together around the edge of the stitching (these stitches will be visible so you need to be as neat as possible.)

Use a sewing thread as close in colour to the felt as possible to help hide the stitches. When you first start off anchor the knot between the 2 pieces of felt by just taking the thread up through the top piece. Now you are ready to start stitching the 2 pieces together with a running stitch.

Bring the thread out at ‘A’ just under and to the right of the stitching and then take a small stitch (approx. 1/4inch) to take the needle back in at ‘B’ under the stitching. (this helps to hide the stitches as much as possible.)

You need to pay attention to the back of the piece as well. Make your stitches on the back are as small as possible but still bring them up about 1/4inch apart on the top piece.

Here’s how mine looked at the back – I kept the gap between the stitches on the back very small and just manipulated the needle to come up at a diagonal to the top to maintain a 1/4 inch running stitch.

Here’s how it looks once it has been stitched all the way around – you would have to look very closely to see the running stitch around the edge of the design.

Now all you need to do is cut away the excess felt from the second layer which is much easier this time as you just use your front piece as the guide.

Now your Brooch is complete…

I really hope you have enjoyed stitching this Bouquet and would love to see your finished creation.

You can tag me on Instagram with #stitchdoodlesembroidery, post some pics in the Happy Stitching FB Group or send me your photos to nicola@stitchdoodles.com and I will include them here with your permission.

Mini Stitchery – Embroidery Bouquet