Floral Cross Embroidery Design, Machine Embroidery Pattern, Instant Download

Linen makes this one sing. I hooped a piece of natural ivory linen last week to test the biggest size and the vines sit so well against that raw fabric texture, the cornflower blue petals practically pop off the cloth. Its a cross made entirely from winding stems, no solid fill inside at all, just a continuous trail of satin-stitch blooms going round the outline. You get blue forget-me-not style flowers with little golden-orange centres, white daisy-type ones, bright green directional leaves, and these small pink rosebuds scattered in between. Quite a lot going on but the density keeps it together, nothing gaps or bunches up.

A woman who makes christening gifts ordered nine of these from me and she stitches the small pocket-square size onto the front of cotton pocket squares. Thats her whole business, honestly. She uses a cutaway stabiliser underneath and a water-soluble topping to stop the tiny satin petals from sinking into the weave, and she says the bobbin thread barely shows on the back. The underlay on this file is set up with tatami base layers before the satin runs, which is why the colours hold even on jersey and terry towelling without the threads going loose. Try it on a linen table runner for easter or on a white cotton tote for a church fundraiser.

Stitch the 5 inch onto canvas for a framed hoop gift, or use the smaller sizes on fleece baby blankets where the applique-style open centre keeps the fabric from getting too stiff. Skip the tear-away on anything stretchy, cutaway only or youll get distortion around the vine stems. Hoop tight, centre your stabiliser, and let the design do the rest.

Give me a heads up and Ill retune the fill for knits.