How to Hand Embroider Roses
Embroidery designs add flair to clothing and home decor. The art of embroidery was practiced from ancient times and by people of various cultures. Hand-embroidered roses are made using a Brazilian technique called the bullion stitch. Bullion stitches are arranged in a pattern that creates a rose effect. Three shades of embroidery thread are selected from the same color family. The darkest shade is used for the center of the rose, the mid-shade is used for the ring of bullion stitches around the central stitches, and the lightest shade is used for the outermost ring of bullion stitches.
Instructions
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Rose petals unfold and flare out at an angle from the center of the flower. Thread your milliner's needle with the darkest shade of the color you have selected. Use a single strand of thread.
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Insert your needle underneath the fabric and pull the thread through, leaving a tail of thread at least 10 inches long on the underside of the fabric. Insert the needle from the top side of the fabric a short distance from the first insertion point of the needle. This distance should be the width of the inside petal of your rose. Bring the needle back up through the first insertion point but do not pull all the way through.
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Hold the needle and fabric in your dominant hand, keeping the thread tail secured on the underside of the fabric. With your nondominant hand wrap the embroidery thread around the needle. The first wrap is at the base of the needle, using the thread that emerges through the first insertion point. Make enough wraps so that the wrapped thread on the needle is the same length as the distance from one needle insertion point to the other.
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Reinsert the needle through the second insertion point. Push the wraps off the needle and press them flat with your finger. You have created a bullion stitch.
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Make a second bullion stitch parallel and right beside the first bullion stitch. Finish off the thread. On the underside of the fabric, take a couple of tiny stitches directly underneath the bullions to secure the end of the thread. Cut the thread, leaving a tail of approximately 1 inch.
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Thread your needle with the embroidery floss in the mid-shade of your selected color. Make 5 bullion stitches around the parallel stitches created with the darkest shade of thread. This second series of stitches is placed close to and at acute angles to the parallel stitches, surrounding the central bullions in a manner similar to rose petals. The bullion stitches made for the second layer are slightly longer than the parallel pair. Finish off the thread.
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Select your lightest shade of color and thread your needle. The lightest shade is used for the third layer of bullions. Make 4 bullion stitches that are approximately 5 to 6 times as long as the parallel pair. Position these bullions close to the second layer and allow each bullion to curve around the rose, encircling the rose at an angle to give the impression of rose petals unfolding.
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Tips & Warnings
When winding thread around the needle, wrap in the direction that is natural to the twist of the thread.
The use of a milliner's needle makes this stitch easier to create because the milliner's needle has an eye the same width as the needle shaft, compared to an embroidery needle, which has an eye wider than the shaft.
References
Resources
- Needle 'n Thread; Free Hand Embroidery Pattern: Rose Border; Mary Corbett; August 18, 2011
- Frunces y Bordados: Frunces, Bordados y Algo Mas
- Berlin Embroidery Designs: Hand Embroidery Techniques
- "Embroidery Masterworks: Classic Patterns and Techniques for Contemporary Application"; Virginia Churchill Bath; 1972
- Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images Ryan McVay/Lifesize/Getty Images
