Scruffy Cartoon Owl Embroidery Design, Big Eyed Owlet Pattern, Instant Download

Owl designs are one of those things I keep coming back to because the eye work is genuinely satisfying to get right. This adorable owl uses seven colours and hits 51,410 stitches at the 7-in placement size, the high count is mostly in the feather body fill and the eye rings. Density at 142 means the plumage sections have real weight when theyre stitched out, not that flat look ya get from lighter density bird designs. At 3.5 inches its 1,128 stitches, so even the small size carries enough detail to read clearly on a front chest placement.

I had a customer order this one last week for a kids bedroom project, she was making a set of woodland pillowcases and this was one of four bird designs she used. The eye highlight dot is whats tricky in small sizes. Stitch it at full speed and the tension pulls the white threads tight across the iris satin, which flattens the highlight. Slow your machine to about fifty-five percent for that single-colour pass. Use a cutaway stabiliser, at density 142 and 51k stitches, tearaway wont hold the fabric flat through the whole run. Pair a medium-grey bobbin thread with the darker body colours and a white bobbin with the eye and belly sections if your machine tension allows bobbin swaps.

Nine sizes from 3.5 scaling to 7.5 inches, seven colour stops, digitised in digitising tools. Pop the owl on a mid-weight cotton or canvas and the feather shading lands exactly as you see it in the preview image. Stitch on lighter-coloured fabric, the amber eye tones in particular look washed out on anything darker than a medium tan base cloth.