Afro Woman Side Face Embroidery Design, Natural Hair Portrait Pattern

Sketched out a 9 colour face portrait of a woman in a three-quarter side view, her large natural afro filling the upper half and botanical elements woven through the hair. The skin tones are built up in layers with satin columns, nose, lips and cheekbones all visible. And the florals inside the hair add colour pops that make the whole thing feel like a painting rather than a graphic, its quite something at the larger sizes.

Stitch range is 17,446 at the 3-in baseline size up to 60,074 at 7.5 inches wide. Nine colours, density of 1,223 which puts it firmly in the high category. So plan for alot of thread changes and make sure youre running clean before you start. Bobbin tension matters here because those dense skin tone layers will show any inconsistency, its not forgiving.

My customers use it almost exclusively for display pieces and apparel statement items, not small accents. One customer messaged me last autumn saying she stitched the full 7.5-in across a plain black canvas tote and people kept stopping her to ask where she got it. Thats the reaction I was going for when I drew it up.

Pop it on black, navy or charcoal fabric for maximum impact. Use a heavy cutaway stabiliser, the density on the face and hair sections is high enough to distort lightweight backing. Skip textured fabrics since the satin stitches need a smooth surface to lay flat and dont want interference from the weave.