APPLE BLOSSOM EMBROIDERY

Early spring blossom is a joyful sign that warmer days are on the way. Cherry plum (Prunus cerasifera) is often the first to emerge here, followed by blackthorn (Prunus spinosa). For me, the most beautiful blossom comes a little later. Apple and crab apple flowers are often tinged with a deep blush pink and, despite not lasting long, are delicate and gently scented.

YOU WILL NEED

WOODEN EMBROIDERY HOOP

PLAIN FABRIC SUCH AS LINEN OR COTTON (LARGE ENOUGH TO FILL THE HOOP AS WELL AS A TEST PIECE) PENCIL

EMBROIDERY THREAD IN THE COLOURS OF BLOSSOM

I used Lichen & Lace 1 ply merino fingering in Orchid from Loop (loopknittingshop.com), as it has patches of deep pink on a cream background, echoing the colours of apple blossom, grey-brown for the branches and bright green for the leaves

EMBROIDERY NEEDLE

SCISSORS

1 Unscrew the embroidery hoop and place the fabric in between the rings, securing it in place so it’s taut. 2 Using a sharp pencil, draw a main branch entering from one side of the fabric and two or three finer, tapering branches coming from it. Keep the design very simple. 3 Using the grey-brown thread on a needle, start to fill in the branches using stitches that are 7-8mm long, running along the length of the branches (not across them). Keep the stitches close together so they ‘colour in’, and overlap them here and there to form a ‘bark-like’ texture.

4 Choose the spots on your branches where you would like the flowers to be and mark with your pencil. As with the branches, keep the design pared down, with just a few clusters here and there. 5 Thread the needle with your chosen blossom-coloured thread and, using a lazy daisy stitch, make small five-petalled flowers in clusters of twos and threes. Then add French knots here and there to act as buds. 6 Using the green thread, and a single lazy daisy stitch, create leaves close to the clusters of blossom to complete your design. 7 Trim the edge of your fabric away from the edge of the hoop if you wish to make it into a simple wall hanging.

LAZY DAISY STITCH

Tie a knot in your thread. Bring your needle and thread through the fabric from behind the design and push the needle back down into the fabric in the same spot or a place as close to that spot as you can manage. This forms the base/pointed end of your petal. You should then have a long loop of thread at the front of your design. Keeping the loop there, push your needle from the back through to the front of the design at the point you wish the other end (the curved end) of your petal to be. Pull your needle out of the fabric, ensuring the loop of thread remaining at the front of your work passes behind the emerging strand of thread, so keeping it in place to form a permanent loop (the petal shape). Push your needle in one last time on the other side of the secured loop of thread to form a small securing stitch.

FRENCH KNOT

Bring your needle and thread from the back to the front of your design where you would like the knot to be. Using your left hand (or your right hand if it is less dominant), wrap the thread around the needle three times and poke the needle back through the fabric at the point where it just emerged. Pull the thread through gradually to ensure the thread doesn’t tangle as the knot forms.