Coronet in sunflower embroidery

February 24, 2023

I got an embroidery kit for a wreath of flowers by Studio Flax and Purl Soho and could not resist making the stitching more complicated. I ended up using additional thread in many of the colors, though I was too quick to mix the remainders into my stash to really know which ones (likely everything but the greens). Here's the finished piece:

An embroidered wreath of a variety of flowers on a natural linen background. The stems are varying shades of greens, and the flowers are stitched in a pale peach, sunflower yellow, bright orange, firey red orange, and dark brown.

Here are some photos I took while stitching that highlight new details I added:

A flower shaped like the side view of a pointed crown is done in a small backstitches with red, orange, yellow, and light peach threads so that it looks almost like it's pixellated. Small orange flowers in satin stitch blend to bright red orange near their stems. Small entire leaves are stitched in two tones of green satin stitch. Small light lime green four-petaled flowers are done in two layers of lazy daisy stitch. A four-petaled light peach flower is done in split stitch with yellow chain stitch lines through the middle, and yellow chain stitch filaments and stamens emerge from the center, too.
A six petaled flower's round petals are no longer in alternating yellow and yellow orange like the original pattern, but are threadpainted in long and shorts with the petals being more orange towards the center. The center of the flower references folk art stitches with varying greens in chain stitch and a layer of dark brown fly stitches with French knots in the center. Small light green clusters of leaves are done in closed fly stitch.
The light peachy pink is woven through the red orange warps that run from the center out to the tip of the petals. As the warp is denser near the center, that part of the petal is more coral, and the tips of the petal have a denser peachy pink since the warp lines are more spread outs.
The same type of woven flower, but with a yellow warp instead of the red orange.
An embroidered flower with a brown center, yellow tendrils, and four woven petals. The woven petals form a gradient from a light peachy pink on the outside to a coral red closer to the center.
A flower shaped like the side view of a pointed crown is done in a small backstitches with red, orange, yellow, and light peach threads so that it looks almost like it's pixellated. Most petals are a pixelated gradient from one color to another, but some are just small backstitches in a single color. Two thin leaves are done in otomi stitch in olive green with a lime green stem stitched line down their spine.
Another folk art-inspired flower: the center has a wheel-inspired design. The very center is yellow backstitch fill in a circular shape with a red orange wheel stitched on top of it, and just outside that there is a layer of red orange with dark brown stitched on top of it. The petals are a light peach satin stitch with yellow stitching on top in a pattern.
The back is neat in some places and much messier in others - I let the stitches guide me!
The original pattern had some simpler stitches.