How to Embroider Tiny Flowers

Stitching Tiny Embroidered Flowers

The Spruce / Mollie Johanson

Project Overview
  • Skill Level: Beginner

Florals are a classic motif in embroidery, and tiny flowers are fun and pretty to create in your projects. The following three types of flowers are seriously minuscule, which makes them so very sweet. The entire cluster above is less than 1 inch at its widest point.

Tiny flowers can be added to fill out other floral embroidery patterns, but they're also good for adding to covered buttons, shirt cuffs and collars, and for creating tiny stitched jewelry projects. Or, you can stitch up your own miniature embroidered garden.

What You'll Need

Equipment / Tools

  • Embroidery hoop
  • Embroidery needles

Materials

  • Various colored embroidery floss
  • 1/4 to 1/2  yard Needlework fabric, white cotton, other woven cloth, or plain white handkerchief

Instructions

How to Make a Tiny Rose

  1. Make the Center

    Make two tiny parallel straight stitches that create the center of the flower.

    Tip

    Use a contrasting color to create the center of the rose if you wish.

    Tiny Rose
    The Spruce / Mollie Johanson
  2. Form the Petals

    1. Begin working your way around the center stitches using a tiny stem stitch which forms a circle.
    2. Continue working around the circle making it as large as you'd like.

How to Make a Tiny Daffodil

  1. Make the Center

    1. Choose two colors for your daffodil.
    2. Start with a French knot.
    3. Create a loose French knot in the center of what will be the flower using the darker color.

    Tip

    To achieve a slightly loose knot, don't hold the working thread too tight around the needle when pulling it through.

    Tiny Daffodil
    The Spruce / Mollie Johanson
  2. Stitch a Petal

    1. Then, form petals with three straight stitches.
    2. The first straight stitch is the longest one which is in the middle of the petal.
    3. Add two more shorter stitches on each side of the middle stitch to form a triangle.
  3. Create More Petals

    Add a total of five or six petals to finish your daffodil.

How to Make a Tiny Pansy or Iris

  1. Stitch the Lower Petals

    1. Choose one or two colors for this style of flower.
    2. Start by making the lower petals.
    3. Start with two or three detached chain stitches to make the lower petals.
    Tiny Pansy or Iris
    The Spruce / Mollie Johanson
  2. Stitch the Upper Petals

    1. To start the upper petals, come back up from the center of the lower three petals with your needle.
    2. Make one chain stitch on the far left.
    3. Instead of making the stitch that tacks down the top of the petal, bring your needle back down through the middle of the lower three petals and come back up next to the partial chain stitch while holding the yarn underneath the needle. By doing this, you've switched over to a blanket stitch, which you will work to forms the top fan of petals.

    Tip

    A wider fan represents a pansy and a narrow fan looks more like an iris.