Sea Turtle Floral Embroidery Design, Instant Download

Drew it as a single-colour line illustration, like something out of a nature field guide crossed with a colouring book page. The turtle is mid-swim, body angled upward, head turned slightly to the right, and its got a little expressive eye that gives it real character. The shell has the classic pentagon and hexagon panels, each one outlined individually so the structure reads right on fabric and its not just a blob with lines across it.

Behind the turtle theres a cluster of upright seagrass stalks with fine hairline stitches for the blades. A few simple five-petal daisy flowers sit at the bottom among the grass, and small circular bubble shapes scatter across the upper half, maybe nine or ten in different sizes, some as outlines, some as tiny filled circles. Its all single colour, redwork style, so youre picking the thread and the whole mood shifts completely. Ive seen it done in twelve different colours and its genuinely a different design each time, thats one of the things I like about single-colour work.

Five sizes from 3.5 by 3.49 up to 7.5 by 7.48. Counts climb from about 11k up to 21k, which isnt bad for how much linework is packed in there. Density is light at 381 per square inch because its all outline columns with no fill areas dragging the count up. One thread load, one colour, so its running quick even on the big size.

Last february a customer stitched a set of four linen cushions in teal thread on cream fabric, all different ocean designs, and the turtle was the one her friends kept asking about first. She told me they were picking it up to look at the shell work up close. Navy on cream works well too. Try it in coral on a natural canvas beach bag for a summer feel. Avoid stretchy jersey unless youre hooping tightly and floating a wash-away topping over the fabric, the fine linework will distort otherwise.

Use a light to medium tearaway stabiliser on wovens. Hoop snug and keep machine speed moderate because those narrow outline columns on the shell cause skipped stitches if you rush them. Pop it on a beach towel, a tote, or a kids swim bag.