TDiTM Stitch #10

Reference: Twelve Dozen Stitches in Twelve Months

Here’s another simple flower. I like the darker shade of blue for the bottom “petals” which are slightly shorter than the upper petals…but wish that I had stitched the French knots in the darker blue rather than the stem color.

The entire flower is stitched in Perle cotton (sz 5); royal blue and sky blue for the petals (lazy daisy stitches) and olive green for the stem (straight stitch) top (French knots) leaves (lazy daisy) and zigzag base.

Another alternative would be to drop the green base petals…and stitch the zigzag in lazy daisy instead of straight stitch....hmmmmmm, a good idea for “future” stitches!...

Of course, anytime you have French knots, they can be substituted with seed beads; just as in the last photo.

The sequence of stitching is:
1. Stitch the zigzag.
2. Stitch the green vertical stem, then the outside lazy daisy leaves, then the French knots.
3. Stitch the darker base petal lazy daisy stitches, pointing them slightly down.
4. Stitch the upper petal lazy daisy stitches starting with the very top vertical stitch then work the outside top stitches and then fill in with the lower top stitches. Fit them into the “space” of the stitch, and don’t go outside the zigzag width so each “flower” has room.

This is a simple seam treatment, but has possibilities for change. If you built it a little taller by adding a couple more French knots and one more row of loops, it might resemble hyacinths in bloom.