Patriotic Messy Bun Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Its just a messy bun. Wild dark hair piled up on top, loose strands everywhere, and then sitting right in the middle of that pile is a red white and blue bandana tied into a big bow. Below that, a pair of aviator shades with the american flag printed across each lens. Thats it. No face, no neck, just the bun-bandana-sunglasses combo and its instantly recognisable.

The hair is done in dense black directional fills, Wilcom laid those strands with angled passes that actually give the impression of individual hairs fanning out. The flag stripes on the bandana are tight satin columns, crisp enough that the red and white alternates are clean from a metre away. Blue canton with white dot stars sits in the bandana corner and mirrors the lens colours on the shades.

I get messages about patriotic designs every summer and this one specifically gets asked about by women who want something that isnt just a flag patch. 4 colours total keeps the thread changes quick, only 9 of them across the whole stitch run. One buyer told me she ran 3 sizes in a row on a hat lot and didnt have to rethread once between em.

White cotton twill caps are the obvious base but I've also seen this on cream linen tote bags and natural canvas aprons and it looks lush. Skip denim with dark wash here because the black hair reads muddy against it. Pair the small 3.5 on a hat and the 6-inch on a matching tote for a coordinated set. Stitch it on a light grey jersey tee for a casual everyday piece.

Density sits at 46k max at 7.5 max so use a medium stabiliser on woven and a firm cutaway on jersey. Ping me if your thread count runs off or anything looks off on the stitch out and ill rework it.