Celestial Bumble Bee Embroidery Design, Machine Embroidery Pattern, Instant Download

Summer craft fairs and cottagecore gift markets are exactly when people reach for this celestial bumble bee design. Yellow and black striped body, wide pale-white wings with directional satin stitching that catches light at different angles. The bee sits dead centre and theres a whole folk-art celestial scene around it: crescent moon in gold above, eight-pointed gold stars scattered around, two curved white arc lines at top, and below the bee a full floral wreath of coral satin flowers with white centre dots, bright green leaves, and small budding white blooms tucked in between.

I digitised this with alot of care in the layering. The black thorax section uses very dense tatami fill to get that rounded velvet look, and the yellow abdomen bands sit smooth because of the directional underlay beneath the satin passes. Wings took three separate passes including a topping layer so the white reads crisp on dark ground. At 21,116 stitches in the smallest 3.51 inch size its already quite substantial, so use cutaway stabiliser, not tearaway. Dont skip the cutaway even on black canvas, the wreath section has dense jump stitches between the coral petals and they cant hold without solid backing underneath.

Hoop it on black denim or black cotton twill and the coral flowers and gold stars just pop. A quilter who sews market bags sent me a message last week saying the 5 inch version on black linen canvas stopped people dead at her stall. Try the 3.51 inch on a jacket pocket or sleeve cuff if youre after something more low-key. Use a 75/11 embroidery needle for the fine star points, and keep bobbin tension just slightly loose so the underside stays flat under all those dense satin passes on the bee body.

Give me a shout and Ill split it for a smaller hoop.