ANG: American Needlepoint Guild

Project : May Flowers

Make just one flower, or a whole bouquet. You don't need to have your flower the same color as mine, choose your favorite color!

And for an enlargement of the needlepoint part of the project .

Materials
1 piece of 14 count white canvas cut to 6" x 6" size

1 skein DMC #3 Pearl cotton #209 (medium purple) - I used a whole skein
1 skein DMC #3 Pearl cotton #208 (dark purple)
1 skein DMC #3 Pearl cotton #745 (yellow)

Other flower colors shown in photo:

DMC blanc and DMC #210
DMC #210 and DMC #209

Whatever colors you choose, you will need either a dark and medium value of one color, or two contrasting colors, plus yellow for the flower center.

6" x 6" piece of felt in a similar color to your flower color, here I used purple
2" x 3" piece of felt in a similar color to your flower color
1 piece of 18 gauge paper wrapped wire
1 ladybug button
4 mm and/or 6 mm craft beads, assorted colors
glue

#18 tapestry needle
black fine point permanent marker
green marker
1 small sewing needle and white and black sewing thread - optional
masking tape for edges of canvas
small scissors

Note: Any type of thread can be used, not necessarily Pearl cotton.

Directions

Step 1
If your computer is a PC, click here to print a pattern to trace.
If your computer is a Mac, click here to print a pattern to trace.

The pattern should print out approximately 4.5" wide by 4" high. If not, please adjust the scale of your printer software and print again.

After you've printed the pattern, tape the edges of the canvas with masking tape to prevent fraying. Now, carefully trace the outline of the flower onto the canvas using a very light touch with the black marker.

Step 2
You will begin by stitching the outline of the flower. Cut an 18" length of the dark thread. Thread the needle with one of the cut ends of the thread and pull the thread through the needle's eye so that there is about a one inch length of the thread on one side of the needle's eye. Tie a knot in the longer side of the thread. Begin with a waste knot placed at the far side of your canvas from where you will start stitching.

The first type of stitch you will be doing is called the Continental stitch. This is a stitch that lies diagonally on the canvas.

The hole that you go up in is number 1; the hole that you go down in is number 2. See how you went diagonally from 1 to 2, or you went up to the hole above 1 and then moved over to the right one hole to hole 2.

The figure above shows one complete Continental stitch, and you will use this stitch to outline the outside petals of the flower, all the way around the flower.

In the figure at left, let the blue line be your petal outline. You will follow the outline as best you can with your stitching on the canvas, but it will not look exactly like the curve of the petal. This is what needlepoint does to curved lines.

Remember to go up in the hole marked 1 and down in the hole marked 2. Go up in the hole marked 3 and go down in the hole marked 4. The hole for 1 and 4 is the same hole, so the thread will share that hole. Continue on in the same way until you have completed each petal. If you have trouble, place your needle in the hole above the hole you came up in and then move over to the right one hole, and put your needle down in that hole.

Step 3
Now you will stitch the middle of the flower, the area around the flower's stamen - the stamen is the yellow part of your needlepoint flower. Cut an 18" length of the dark thread. Thread the needle as you did before and begin with a waste knot at the far side of your canvas. You will now have 2 knots over there; that's OK. When you have covered the thread from the waste knot as much as you can with your stitching on the flower, then you will cut away the extra thread.

You will again be doing the Continental stitch, but in rows.

Let the blue line be the outline of the middle part of the flower. Cover the outline as you stitch with the dark thread. Just as you did with the petal, go up in hole 1 and down in hole 2. Fill in the areas in the middle of the flower this way, refer to the picture of the enlarged needlepoint flower at the beginning for help. When you are ready to start the second row, continue stitching diagonally, such as shown, by going up in hole 9 and down in hole 10, up in hole 11 and down in hole 12.

Step 4
Next you will stitch the flower's stamen. The stitch that you will use is called the Diagonal Hungarian stitch. This diagram shows one complete Diagonal Hungarian stitch -- it really is two stitches.

Both stitches are diagonal stitches. The short stitch is the same as one Continental stitch. You go up in hole 1 and down in hole 2. The long stitch is right next to the short stitch, but starts below the hole for the short stitch and ends next to the hole for the short stitch. You go up in hole 3 and down in hole 4.

Cut an 18" length of yellow thread. Thread the needle as you did before and begin with a waste knot at the far left side of your canvas.

This figure shows a row of Diagonal Hungarian stitches.

We've already seen how the short and long stitches are right next to each other. When you start the next short stitch after a long stitch, you need to move in (to the right) one hole from your last starting hole. Here hole 5 is moved in one hole from hole 3. Again, complete one short stitch by going up in hole 5 and down in hole 6. Hole 6 is now one hole underneath hole 4 from your last long stitch. Then the next long stitch is placed right next to this short stitch. As we said before, go up in hole 7 and down in hole 8.

This diagram shows how to stitch the second row of the Diagonal Hungarian stitch.

See how the long stitches share a hole with the short stitches and the short stitches share a hole with the long stitches? Be sure to continue stitching diagonally. Remember to go up in hole 1 and down in hole 2.

What do you do if the area you are stitching does not allow you to complete the whole stitch? You do as much of the stitch as you can: this is called compensation.

Suppose the blue line is the edge of your stitch area. Then stitch 1 to 2, and stitch 17 to 18 are all smaller than the complete stitch would be, but the pattern is still maintained, moving diagonally.

Step 5
Now you will stitch the petals of the flower. The stitch that you will use is called the Giant Diagonal Hungarian stitch. This figure shows one complete Giant Diagonal Hungarian stitch -- it really is two stitches.

Both stitches are diagonal stitches. You go up in hole 1 and down in hole 2. The longer stitch is right next to the shorter stitch, but starts below the hole for the shorter stitch and ends next to the hole for the shorter stitch. You go up in hole 3 and down in hole 4. Notice how the Giant Diagonal Hungarian stitch is just a longer version of the previous Diagonal Hungarian stitch.

This diagram shows a row of Giant Diagonal Hungarian stitches.

Since the Giant Diagonal Hungarian stitch is so similar to the Diagonal Hungarian, only longer, the same rules apply for stitching the second row and doing compensation, so use the figures from the Diagonal Hungarian stitch shown in Step 4 to help you with these steps. Just remember that you are stitching a longer stitch than before.

Cut an 18" length of the medium thread. Thread the needle as you did before and begin with a waste knot at the far side of your canvas. Fill in all of the petals with the Giant Diagonal Hungarian stitch.

Step 6
Now attach the beads and ladybug button to your flower, if you want. The easiest way to attach them is with the glue. If you use glue, be sure to wait until the glue is dry before continuing on with the next step. However, they may eventually get knocked off of the flower, so sewing them on is more permanent. I used the black thread to sew on the ladybug button and the white thread to sew on the beads in the center of the flower. Sew the beads with the sewing thread and needle, securing the thread in the back of the canvas and sewing them on like a button. Choose any design that you like, or you may refer to the pictures below for some ideas.

Step 7
Put glue on the BACK of your flower, and use your finger to spread the glue around evenly and not too thickly. Be sure to have the glue reach all the way to the edges of your stitched flower. Place your piece of felt on the glued side of the flower. Let dry. When the glue is dry, carefully cut the flower out of the canvas. Try not to cut the stitching threads at the edge of the flower. If you do happen to cut the thread, put a little glue on that thread using your finger and let dry. The glue will hold the thread in place.

Step 8
The flower’s stem is made from the paper wrapped wire. I could only find brown paper wrapped wire. If you can find green paper wrapped wire then you can skip this step. If you can’t find this type of wire, then with the green marker color the paper on the wire green.

Step 9
Glue the wire to the center back of the flower.

	Make a small hook in the end of the wire. Glue the hooked part of the wire to the back of the flower. I bent the wire into the hooked shape to allow more surface area of the wire to be glued to the flower, which will make the stem more stable. Let dry.
Now glue a small piece of felt over the wire that is already glued onto the back of the flower, which should make the stem even more secure. This piece of felt will be called a strap. Let dry.

Step 10

Place your thumb where the arrow indicates on the figure, at the top of the felt strap where the wire comes out. Bend the wire over your thumb in a "U" shape. The wire should remain about a thumb's width away from the back of the flower. This will make the flower stand apart from the stem, as real flowers do. Now you can put your flower in a vase to enjoy it.