Friend asked for something for a nursery quilt and I went full storybook with this one. Theres 4 ducks walking in a row, all standing upright like they're late for something. First duck on the left is wearing a blue striped coat and a flat-brimmed hat, carrying a little wicker basket. He's clearly the dad duck. Next to him is the mum in a pink ruffle dress with a bow on her head, very proper. Third duck is the one that gets everyone, hes wearing a full red strawberry costume, big round body, green leaf cap on top, the stems stick up like little antennae. Last duck has a dusty pink bonnet tied under her chin and a matching coat, very demure at the end of the procession.
9 colour stops, but each duck is basically its own 2-to-3-colour zone so you thread up once and run the whole row in sequence. Density is 843 stitches per square inch, solidly medium, and the fine directional fills inside the clothing sections give each costume its own fabric texture without needing to change fills manually. Smallest size is 2.03 by 4.5 inches at around 12k stitches, biggest is 3.83 by 8.5 at just under 28k. Its a tall narrow composition so it naturally fits borders, sleeves, and cot bumper panels.
Run the row as a border repeat or use each duck individually on separate items as a set. A customer messaged me last spring after stitching the full row on a quilt border, said the nursery looked like it was decorated by a proper illustrator. Ive had people split them up across 4 pockets on a nursery organiser, one duck per pocket. Pick a fine cotton or smooth quilting cotton, dont try this on towelling, the fine clothing fills and the tiny face details wont survive a loopy terry surface without topping.
Use a cutaway stabiliser, hoop firmly. Float water-soluble topping on anything with a nap. Skip the topping on standard quilting cotton. The strawberry duck body has dense fills so the underlay matters, run a 45-degree fill underlay before the top satin or youll get pull on the edges.
What people are using this design for
A starting point. The design works for plenty more than just this list, this is what folks have stitched it onto most.
- Nursery wall quilt or cot bumper borderRun all 4 ducks along the bottom border of a nursery quilt panel and bind with a pale yellow fabric for a storybook-style cot quilt that doesnt look mass produced
- Baby shower gift on a hooded towel or bib setStitch each duck on a matching set of 4 bibs, one character per bib, so theres always the right one in the wash when ya need it
- Kids bedroom curtain hem borderRun the row along the curtain hem of a kids bedroom with the ducks marching toward the window, its sweet and doesnt require centering a large motif
- Childrens canvas tote or backpack personalisationUse the medium 3-inch height version on the front panel of a canvas kids backpack, the tall narrow shape fits perfectly above the zip
- Nursery storage organiser with one duck per pocketStitch one duck on each outer pocket of a fabric nursery organiser, dad duck on the nappy pocket, mum on the wipes, and the babies on the smaller slots
- Baby clothing embroidery on onesie or sleepsuitPop the smallest 2-inch version on the chest of a plain white onesie for a newborn gift that looks genuinely handmade and not iron-on
- Handmade birthday card fabric panel framed as giftEmbroider the full row on natural linen, frame it in a white frame, and gift it as nursery wall art before the baby shower so the parents have something ready to hang
- Playroom cushion row in a childs reading nookStitch the row on 4 matching cushion covers for a kids reading nook bench seat, use each duck on a different pastel background
Dimensions
9 sizes included. Stitch counts shown for the largest colorway.
| Size (in) | Stitches |
|---|---|
| 2.03 × 4.50 in | 12,668 |
| 2.25 × 5.00 in | 14,126 |
| 2.48 × 5.50 in | 15,984 |
| 2.70 × 6.00 in | 17,576 |
| 2.93 × 6.50 in | 19,656 |
| 3.16 × 7.00 in | 21,396 |
| 3.38 × 7.50 in | 23,420 |
| 3.61 × 8.00 in | 25,415 |
| 3.83 × 8.50 in | 27,441 |
Files & Formats
Eight machine formats included in one zip. Whichever your machine reads, its in the pack.
Plus a color chart for thread matching. See full format guide.
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About the artist
Reyazul Masud Riham, hand-drawing every design on this site
Every design on Re Embroidery is hand-digitized by one person. Each file gets sketched, color-matched, and stitch-tested on real fabric before it earns a place in the shop. No team. No auto-conversion from images. Just slow, deliberate work, sometimes three or four days per design.
That's the joy I work for.
The hard part is finding my designs re-uploaded and resold elsewhere. So when you buy from Re Embroidery, you're paying one real person for the file you're about to download. That matters.
