Draw a flower shape and cut from felt.
The size of these pieces may be varied according to the flower you want to depict.
Attach the felt to the background fabric with a stab stitch through the centre. For the rounded flower, using one strand of the color of your choice, cover the felt with satin stitches radiating from the centre so that no felt shows through the stitching. Shade towards the centre of the flowerswith a few stitches in a darker shade of the same color. Work one or a cluster of french knots in yellow for the centre of the flower, and work a stem and leaves as desired.
For the star-shaped flower, attach the felt to the background as before, but this time cover each petal with Lazy Daisy (Detached chain) stitches by working one in the middle of the petal, and several more outside the first stitch until that petal is covered. Work all petals in this way. An interesting centre for this flower is to have 'stamens' extending from the centre. To do this work a few closely placed Turkey stitches (a loop and a backstitch), cut the loops to the length required and brush them with an eyebrow brush/comb. In the picture on the upper left you will see several little flowers worked in this way.
Another interesting and fairly simple flower has the petals worked in needleweaving (lower left). To work this, bring your needle and thread up near the centre of the flower, and down again next to where you came up, leaving a loop of thread about 1cm long, or the length you want your finished petals to be. Hold the end of the loop (an extra piece of thread is useful for this) and weave over and under the loop threads from alternate sides, and taking your needle down between the threads each time. Do not go through the background fabric. You may use two strands of thread for this stitch if you wish. When the petal is completely filled take your needle and thread down through the background fabric so that the petal stands up in a slight curve from the fabric. Work the required number of petals for each flower, and work a Turkey stitch centre.
If you have done all these free patterns in various colors you should now have a very pretty little garden! I hope the patterns have given you pleasure, as well as an insight into the art of Stumpwork.
Enjoy, but you have any problems please email me at
mailto:rjfletch@iaa.com.au
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