Red Tulip Embroidery Design, Machine Embroidery Pattern, Instant Download

A quilter from Leeds ordered this last spring to stitch onto linen tea towels as gifts for her allotment club, and the tulip came out so sharp she ended up doing a second batch for the village fete table. Thats the kind of design this is. Single red tulip, long curved black stem, one wide olive-green leaf sweeping off to the side. The petals are filled with directional satin in a proper bright red, and theres a lighter rose-pink highlight running down the centre of each petal that gives it that three-dimensional look. Black outline stitching holds the whole thing together so it reads clearly even on busy fabric.

I digitised this with dense underlay before the satin passes, so the petal fill sits flat and doesnt distort when youre pulling it off the hoop. Density on the flower head sits around 374 stitches per square centimetre, which is enough to get that smooth satin finish without the fabric buckling underneath. The leaf uses a tatami fill rather than satin, with the stitch direction running diagonally so you get a subtle texture difference between leaf and bloom. Pop it on a cutaway stabiliser if youre going onto jersey or any stretch fabric, cotton and linen are fine with a standard tearaway.

The 2 inch sits realy well on a shirt pocket or a handkerchief corner. If youre going bigger, the 4 inch on a canvas tote or a linen apron front looks striking as a standalone piece, no border needed, the black outline does alot of the visual work for you. Ive had people use this on kitchen linens, on denim shirt cuffs, and on nursery wall hoops in a colour scheme where they swap the red for dusty pink, which you can do by just changing the top thread. Stitch direction on the petals is set up so a thread colour change reads naturally, no re-hooping or jump stitch mess to deal with.

Use a topping on velvet or terry cloth if the loop height is catching your satin stitches. Iron the piece right after youre done while the fabric is still warm and the stitches will settle beautifully flat. Try centering it in a 5x7 hoop for the mid-size, theres enough clearance on all sides that the leaf tip doesnt crowd the hoop edge.

Message me if a colour sequence looks off.