How To Make Neat Satin Stitch Flower Petals
Satin stitch flower petals are some of the most common style of flower petals you’ll see in hand embroidery art. When done right they can look smooth, somewhat fluffy, and look great when used in modern floral embroideries.
The satin stitch seems like a relatively simple stitch, but it can be a bit challenging to get it right! This post will show you how to make your stitches look amazing.
A common challenge with this stitch is that it can be hard to get the edges of the stitches smooth.
The trick to getting smooth edges along the end of the petals is to work a split stitch along the outline before you add the satin stitches. The split stitches will serve as a guide for the satin stitches and they also add a bit of padding so the stitches be more prominent.
It can be tempting to just start filling in each petal and skipping over the split stitches, but I promise the extra time it takes will make a huge difference!
Satin Stitch Flower Petals Tutorial
- Using 2 strands, make a split stitch carefully along the outline of each petal.
- Using 4 strands, make satin stitches along the length of the petal from the base and over top of the split stitches you just made.
- Repeat for each petal
- Fill the middle in with French knots.
Tips For Smooth Satin Stitches
- It’s easiest to mark the fabric before you get started so you have an outline to follow or the split stitches.
- It looks the most natural to make stitches along the length of the petal.
- Your stitches can slightly fan out along each petal, but for the most part they should all run parallel to one another.
- Make sure to place each stitch directly beside one another with no spaces in between.
- There should be an even amount of stitch tension for each satin stitch. Leaving one too loose or too tight will disturb the surrounding stitches and they won’t lay as neatly.
- Depending on how flat or fluffy you want the petal to be, you can use more or less strands of thread than the example.
If you found this tutorial helpful, check out this post for even more stitches for flower petals.
Amanda is a hand embroidery artist and teacher. With over 15 years of experience in the craft industry and embroidery, she owns and runs Crewel Ghoul, sharing tutorials and patterns to help inspire fellow crafters to get inspired and creative. In addition to running this website, she teaches on Skillshare and Youtube.
