Shaka Hand Embroidery Design, Tropical Beach Machine Embroidery, Instant Download

Its a shaka but theres kinda a whole world packed into it. The hand shape is the frame and inside the fingers, the palm and the wrist theres a full tropical scene layered in. Palm trees along the top edge with birds cutting across, monstera leaves and hibiscus blooms spilling out either side of the hand. Then at the bottom a pair of retro sunglasses, and inside each lens theres a different scene, the left one has a calm beach with palms and distant waves, the right one has a surfer carving through a curling wave. All of that stitched in 1 colour, straight black thread on white, cream or sand fabric for max contrast.

The density on this one is 982 and that makes sense when you see it, 37,671 stitches on the 6.5-inch and 19,550 on the chest-3 in. There are 86 trims on the large size which tells ya the detail inside the sunglasses lenses is genuinely intricate. professional tools pulled satin fills on the hand outline and tatami fills on the interior scene sections to keep the depth readable without going 3D. The palm fronds use directional stitching so they fan out properly instead of sitting flat.

I get messages from surf shop owners and beach bar operators about this one more than most designs in the shop. One surf school owner in florida ordered it on 3 dozen black polo shirts last summer for her instructors, she said guests kept wanting to know where to buy the shirts. Vacation rental hosts put it on white cotton guest towels as a welcome gift too, which I love. Use a mesh cutaway stabiliser underneath on all sizes, the density needs that backing to keep everything flat and clean. Skip water-soluble topping on terry cloth too, it shreds in the trims. Works great on linen, denim, canvas twill and woven cotton.

Reach out if your bobbin tension struggles at the dense fill sections, I can send you adjusted running advice for slower machine speeds.