Mother Cat & Kitten Silhouette Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Its two black cat silhouettes, plain and simple. The big cat sits tall on the right, ears pointed, tail curled around her base. She faces right with her body turned slightly so youve got the full length of her back line and the curve of her chest. The kitten sits lower and in front to the left, a smaller version of the same upright pose, also looking to the right. Just four colours and most of the design is solid black, so the stitch count does the lifting through density and not colour complexity.

Body fills are dense tatami in pure black at 1,159 stitches per square inch, which gives the silhouettes real solidity without any visible thread gaps at the edges. White thread stitches the whiskers as fine straight satin lines radiating from the muzzle on each cat. A tiny white satin oval marks the eye on each figure, just enough detail to read as alive without breaking the silhouette shape. The tail outline on the adult cat uses a running stitch underlay that gives the curved edge a clean line. Nine sizes from 2.4 by 3.5 inches up to 5.14 by 7.5 inches, stitch counts from 12,663 to 44,693.

A customer who does pet memorial pieces ordered a run of the medium size last winter, she stitched the design onto charcoal grey linen squares and framed each one as a gift for friends whod lost their cats. She told me the fine whisker detail was what made the pieces feel personal and not generic, and the simplicity meant the fabric texture showed through and gave each one a slightly different feel. The 3.5 by 5 inch size fit a standard 5 by 7 inch frame with a mat, which is handy to know going in.

Use a medium cutaway stabiliser on all fabric types since the dense black fills need a stable base to sit flat. Stitch on white, cream, light grey, pale blue or any soft neutral that lets the black silhouettes stand out. Skip dark fabrics, obviously the solid black cant be seen against a dark base and youll lose the whole design. Float a thin topping layer on velvet or felt if youre after cleaner stitch edges on the silhouette borders.

Press from the back once done and keep the iron off the whisker lines since thin satin threads can shift under direct heat. Run the eye dots last in the stitch order so they sit on top of the face fill and dont get buried under earlier passes.