Curl Center Rose

Way back in 2014 there was a post shared about a couple of stemmed roses that I had stitched in Silk Ribbon and perle cotton. Here is the Link.

Well I've been playing with that rose idea again, and thought you might like a little tutorial as I progressed through the stitching. This little variety is only about 2-inches tall from ground to tip; a perfect little motif size for any block. But, to enlarge just use 13mm ribbon and longer straight stitches and/or add more "rounds" of petals.

Kathy's Curl Center Rose

First off, I should explain the background as it is a bit "fuzzy". If you saw the prior post than you already understand; but if not...this fabric is a shrunk sweater that I'm using to create pin cushions. This little rose is the first to be stitched.

To begin this rose thread some 7mm ribbon on your chenille needle. Take a tiny bite of your background without anchoring the ribbon to the back (per the usual). I've enlarged these photos and cropped them close...so this bite might look large. But, notice the width of the ribbon which is 7mm...and you can surmise that the bite is actually about 1/16th (or about half of the 7mm size). Pull the ribbon through until you have about 1 to 2-inches remaining.

This little ribbon tail (right side) is going to become the center of the rose. To hold it in place, we'll need some standard needle/thread so go ahead and get that prepared.

Take a couple of anchoring stitches in the center area, it's not important if you pierce the ribbon or not as you're only just anchoring the thread so it doesn't pull out of the background fabric.

Use a small round tool (stilleto, toothpick, or painters brush as shown here) and roll the ribbon from tip to fabric around this tool. If you catch the sewing thread, no problem. Now ease the tool out and hold these curls down with fingers from the hand you don't sew with.

The hand you use is important because you need to tack these curls in place with needle thread, go through all layers. (Confession: I didn't do a good job and my curls came partially loose during this rose creation...and I had to work to re-curl them and poke them into the center outside curl again. So, learn from my error and tack through so that you catch all layers of this curl. The left side of the curl is the ribbon that has been sitting there patiently in the needle waiting for the next step. Clip your sewing thread after you have secured it on the back side of your fabric. You are finished with the needle/thread...so back to the silk ribbon.

The needle position is presently at 9-o'clock if this rose were a clock face. Needle down at 12-o'clock (12-OC) making a straight stitch. Keep it a bit loose rather than letting it flatten against the fabric.

This is a good time to point out a critical "technique" element in silk ribbon embroidery. ALWAYS manipulate the ribbon rather than just pulling through like you might with thread embroidery. I like to needle down and then stop...as I pull the ribbon with my left hand (non dominant hand) I use my right hand and the needle to apply tension against the ribbon. Just insert the needle under the loop that you are pulling through and keep the needle in place so that the ribbon remains flat close to the fabric...as it feeds through the fabric the last wee bit will be flat then rather than twisting and turning. These straight stitches don't include twists/turns...but some SRE work does; so just remember to add the appropriate number of these as you guide the ribbon into the fabric WHEN they are called fore. Not in this rose however...

Note that the photo above is the stitching of the SECOND petal. We had needled down at 12-OC. So, this petal requires us to needle up at 11-OC, slightly behind the first petal (as shown above). Needle down at 1-OC and guide the ribbon through the fabric keeping it straight. Remember to keep if a bit "poofy" and not let it lay flat against the fabric.

Make a THIRD petal in the same manner; needle up at 12-OC and down at 3-OC (this little petal is at the upper right in the photo below.

Now, we need to make a supporting stitch to help hold the center CURL in place. This stitch will be hidden but it is important to get a pretty rose. Needle up at 9-OC and down at 3-OC (this petal is at the bottom of this photo). BTW, don't stitch into the "same hole" on these...so if you have more than one instance of 3-OC for example...make sure that these are a couple of threads apart rather than going back into a hole already used at that clock face position (words of wisdom).

Now we'll work on some bottom petals. Needle back up at 9-OC and needle down at 6-OC. Keep the petal straight and puffy.

Needle up at 7-OC and down at 5-OC. Then needle up at 6-OC (as shown in the photo above)...

...and down at 3-OC. This completes the head of this little rose. IF you want a larger rose you can add another round of petals in the same manner. Using wider ribbon will also increase the size a bit because the curled center will be taller...and therefore the clock face is a bit larger. But, the difference is not as much as when you add a second grouping of petals. This little rose head has some possibilities for sure. Change the center, change the color of center/petals, and just play around with the petal placement to get a variety of roses using this general idea.

Next...the stem. Your choice of stem could include a standard Chain Stitch, a Wrapped Chain Stitch, a Stem Stitch, or some other stitch of your choice. For this tutorial I'm going to work a combination of Chain Stitches and Single Feather Stitches...with a twist.

I'm going to begin with a Detached Chain Stitch. Granted, it's hard to actually see this here in this photo...but that's because the "loop" is tight so looks more like two Straight Stitches from this angle. But, trust me...it is a Detached Chain Stitch. I began about 1/8th inch (2mm) below the rose head and the loop tucks under the head and is tacked down with a wee little straight tacking stitch. Then, I needled up about 1/8 inch from the base and on the left side (you can do the right side first if you prefer, that really doesn't matter).

It might be best if I remind you exactly what a Single Feather Stitch looks like:

This drawing has the stitches slightly offset from each other...but you can follow a drawn line (this would align #3 and #5 vertically...placing the #5 needle position directly under the #3 position rather than slightly to the right. That's what we'll be doing to keep the stem straight. We'll also be adding a "twist" to the stitch. So, this can't be accomplished with the SCOOP method of stitching...rather, we'll STAB up and down and manipulate our thread using both hands as we create the line of stitching.

We began by our needle up slightly to the left of the Single Detached Chain. So, now we needle down at the base of the Single Detached Chain to continue our Twisted Single Feather Stitch. Needle up about 1/4th inch (4mm) vertically below the Single Detached Chain...to keep a straight stem. Ordinarily we'd just loop the perle under the needle to do the Single Feather Stitch.

Instead we are going to pass the thread on TOP of the needle before going under it. This causes the thread to cross-over (or twist) as we make the stitch. Pull Through...

This is what the stitch looks like...kinda neat! We will continue to create the same stitch but begin each at opposite sides. So, needle down slightly to the right of center...and come up vertically along the center line (imaginary, but you can draw one to keep you on track) about 1/4 inch down from the where the perle is right now. Do as many of these stitches as you want the rose length where "leaves" might be. So, stop before you get all the way to the bottom.

You can see that I've done five of the Twisted Single Feather Stitches (3 on the left and 2 on the right). Next we'll add some length to the stem with some standard Detach Chain Stitches. Go into the "loop" of the last Twisted Single Feather Stitch and needle up about 1/4 inch away vertically in line still with the center of the stem.

Do as many of these Detached Chain Stitches as needed to make the rose as tall as you want it to be. I've included TWO of the stitches as you can see at the bottom area of this photo. End the last Chain Stitch by anchoring the loop with a little tacking stitch.

I wanted my stem to be a bit more "solid" so I'm wrapping all of these prior stitches. Needle up at the base of the stem (right or left side) and pass your needle under the loop portion of each stitch (use the EYE so you don't stab the work). Do this for every stitch and the result will WRAP the perle around the stem from bottom to top.

The end result looks pretty solid with little "stems" on each side. These could be interpreted as thorns if you wanted to add large leaves in silk ribbon. But, I'm going to consider them as little leaf stems...and add silk ribbon leaves in 2mm ribbon. These will be tiny because I want to create at least 3 for each stem. Roses often have 3, 5, or even 7 leaves...but never an even number on their little stems.

Create the leaves with simple Straight Stitches in ribbon. The length of each leaf in the set (trio) is about the width of the ribbon. Stitch the two leaves at the base first, from tip to base...then stitch the top center leaf as shown in the photo above. Viola, the rose is finished!