Bee and Flower Embroidery Design, Nature Machine Embroidery Pattern, Instant Download

This one took me a few attempts to get right last summer, the challenge with a single colour bee-and-flower is getting the bee to actually sit visually above the bloom without using a contrasting colour to do the work. The solution was directional satin on the petals going horizontal and the bee body going vertical, so the eye reads them as separate planes. Density at 901 does the rest.

Stitch counts range from 18,630 at 3.51 inches to 39,574 at the 7.51 inch size. Single colour, so you can run it in whatever thread matches your project. The stripe bands on the bee abdomen are done with alternating satin density, dense band then lighter band, which is what creates the striped effect without a second colour. Its a kinda clever trick and it works well on smooth cotton or linen where the satin sheen difference is visible. A customer emailed me asking if she could run it in gold thread on a dark navy towel, and yes it looked brilliant apparently.

Pop cutaway under anything with stretch. On firm cotton canvas or linen, tearaway works fine for this one. The hooped area needs to be just abit larger than the design at the 7 inch size since the outer petals come close to the edge, so give yourself a centimetre extra each side. Avoid running this on very open-weave fabric without topping, the satin density is high enough to drag the weave.

Email me if you want a specific colour thread suggestion for a particular fabric and Ill tell you what Ive seen work best.