Pearl Cotton Sunflower (pillow and framed wall hanging), 5″ x 5″, punch needle on weavers cloth. Designed and punched by Marinda Stewart, Round Rock, Texas, 2012.
The sunflower is an iconic summer favorite. Aptly named, it is always joyful and it is a decorating classic. This sunflower is placed on a pale blue sky background, just as it would be found standing at attention in a garden.
Variegated threads are one of my rug hooking gotos, and no one but Weeks Dye Works has the selection of hand-dyed #5 Pearl (also known as perle) cotton or hand-dyed weavers cloth. The changing colors of the threads recreate the vibrancy found in a real sunflower. It’s hard to believe I only used eight thread colors, including Swamp Water, Rust, Guacamole, Marigold, and Schneckley (a muddy gold).
I chose Pearl cotton #5 and a #6 (6-strand floss or equivalent) punch needle for the actual stitchery. The Pearl cotton can be fed directly off the skein without cutting it into lengths. The #6 punch needle uses some of the largest embroidery threads, so a design works up very fast. The 5”-square sunflower design took several hours; however, none of the detail has been compromised. I used a couple of special techniques to create the flower center to add texture and dimension.
Materials
- 9″-square Weavers Cloth Morris Blue1 each #5 Pearl cotton
- (Weeks Dye Works) in Swamp Water (#4129), Lucky (#4111), Schneckley (#1223), Guacamole
- (#1193), Rust (#1326), Pecan (#1228), Marigold (#2225), and Saffron (#2223)
- #6 punch needle with threader
- Scissors
- 8″ embroidery hoop
- Assorted glues
Tip: Wrap the inner ring of your wooden embroidery hoop with yarn to reduce slipping and to pad the edge of the hoop and reduce the hoop mark.
Transfer the Design
Use one of the following methods to transfer the design to the backing.
- Light box: Use a light box (or equivalent) and trace the design on the back of the fabric.
- Iron-on transfer: Following the manufacturer’s directions, trace over the design with an iron-on transfer pencil. Place the design right side down on the back of the fabric. Iron the back of the transfer until the image appears on the fabric.
- Carbon paper: Trace a mirror image of the design. Using dress-maker’s carbon paper, place the carbon paper right side down on the back of the fabric. Place the design on top and trace firmly to leave an image on the back of the fabric.
This 5″ x 5″ design features a sunflower. Remember that sunflowers come in other colors, including oranges and burgundies. You could also interpret this flower as a gerbera daisy in hot pink, oranges, or bright yellow. Just adjust the flower centers to more green and no brown.
The pattern is ready to be punched.
Work on the embroidery progresses.
The punched center of the sunflower.
Hook the Design
- Transfer the design to the back of the fabric.
- Set the needle gauge to 3/8″ from the eye to the stoppers.
- Outline the leaf, leaf veins, and the innermost ring of the flower center with Swamp Water.
- Work two rows of Schneckley around the hole in the leaf. Outline all of the petals with the same color.
- Fill in the leaf with Lucky.
- Fill in the base of each petal and the petal foldovers with Marigold.
- Fill in the remainder of each flower petal with Saffron.
- Fill in the middle ring of the flower center with Rust.
- Change the needle gauge setting to 5/8″ from the eye to the stopper.
- Work four rows in the outer ring of the flower center using Guacamole.
- Work the center of the flower with Pecan. Cut off the tops of the loops to make a velvet texture. With Pecan, stitch a cross-hatch pattern through the velvet texture to finish the center of the flower.
(See inset photo)
- With sharp embroidery scissors, carefully trim any extra long loops or tag ends even with the surround-ing loops.
- With the needle tip or scissor tip carefully push any stray loops into place. Push outline stitches into place, and clean up the overall design to make it clearer and crisper.