Rose Embroidery – 12 ways to make embroidered roses easily

Ask 5 people in your vicinity about their favourite flower  and 3 of them will say rose. I did and this was so for me.  What is not to love about a rose – the colour, texture, smell and beauty unparalleled among flora. Rose is a divine flower – the flower which is associated with goddesses of love. Rose has a symbolic meaning of love, trust, desire and passion.

To stitch a rose in embroidery is easy. Take any embroidery pattern book and you will find scores of pictures of roses. Infact rose will dominate the pictures of flowers. Once you have transferred the design on to your fabric for embroidery you will have to decide on how to embroider it. That is what this post is all about.

If you would like to design your own rose embroidery designs and learn to draw some easy rose flowers you can check out this post on 5 ways to draw and paint a rose.

How to stitch Rose in Embroidery

1. Outline stitch rose

This is the simplest way of stitching a rose. Just the outline is made with any of the outline stitches like different types of stem stitches, variations of Chain stitches, and other types of back stitch. Here I have used back stitch for the rose and stem stitch for the leaves.

2. Satin stitched roses

You can use Satin stitches to fill designs that are less than 1/2 inch in width; more than this and it can look messy. Checkout the post on Satin stitches for more details 

More details on how to draw and stitch the above design can be found on the tutorial to make a shopping bag

With satin stitch you cannot fill a design which is more than 1/2 inch wide – it will look uneven. There is a method to fill big designs with satin stitch. Make more than one row of satin stitch inside the design and then connect them with straight stitches smoothly and evenly.

This rose embroidery design is from the post on Master the Art of Embroidery on clothing

3. Buttonhole stitch roses

Closely made blanket stitches are used to either fill the rose or work on the outline. If you use a cast on stitch rose like the one in the post on 3D flower embroidery post inside the blanket stitched petals it can look extraordinarily pretty. 

4. Silk ribbon embroidery 

Ribbon embroidery work can be used to make the most beautiful roses ever. That too in many types and styles. From simple french knot roses to frilled and gathered roses there are many options for you if you want to work your rose embroidery work with ribbons. Checkout the ribbon embroidery flower tutorial for more details

5. Woven spider web rose

This flower is an easy one and 3 dimensional.

You have to take the full strand of embroidery floss (with 6 threads) twice on a blunt needle. Knot the ends. Take another sharp needle and the same colour thread (one strand) and make a web with 9 tails like the  one in picture below.

Bring up the blunt needle from the center of the star stitch and start to Weave the thread under and over the stitches. Complete the whole circle and then take the needle to the back and knot again.

6. Bullion knot roses

For the bullion knot roses a small french knot is made first and then the bullion knots are made around the french knot. Checkout the post on Bullion stitch embroidery for more details.

Use milliner needles with the eye the same size as the shank for making the bullion stitches.
First, as usual, put the needle in and out of fabric, with tip and eye showing.
Wrap as many times around the needle as possible with enough room at the top to get a hold of the needle.
When you have completed all the wraps, pull the needle through.
Smooth the bullion by rubbing the wraps between thumb and forefinger;  tie off. Make 2-3 similar stitches around the french knot slightly overlapping the previous one.

Make the small leaves by making straight stitches like a V in the bottom end of the flower. 

7. French knot roses

French knot by themselves look like a beautiful rose, but they are very small. When you make a number of them together they can take on the look of a rose.

8. Gold work roses

You can make these roses with a loop stitch made in a circle shape . Checkout the post on zardosi embroidery work tutorial for more details.

This  rose is made by passing the needle through the bullion metallic thread cut into small pieces and making loops around a center. Checkout the post on metallic thread embroidery for details on sewing with metallic thread

9. Geometric  rose

This rose is worked by making a center full of french knots and then working straight stitches around the center to look like petals.

10. Needle painting rose

Needle painting uses long and short stitch to fill the inside of the rose design.When different shades are combined the gradation effect of the long and short stitch can make your work look like a painting – though mine is a long way from looking like one. Checkout the post on Needle painting for more on this hand embroidery technique

This rose embroidery design is filled with long and short stitches – but instead of a single strand, the whole 6 strands of the embroidery threads are used in the needle.

First, the outline is done with the long and short stitches with a light coloured thread.

The inner part is filled with more stitches with a darker shade of the same color.

Another rose design

Finish with an outline stitch between petals to emphasize and delineate them

11. Cross stitch roses

Roses are a favourite in cross stitch embroidery. There are a hundred ways you can make embroidered roses with chain stitch. Checkout this post on making cross stitch patterns from photos/ pictures as well as a beginner’s guide to cross stitch.

12. Rosette chain stitch Rose

This is a textured rose made with simple rosette chain stitches.Checkout the rosette chain stitch tutorial post for more details.

13. Cast-on stitch rose

Learn how to make this rose in this post on working the cast-on stitch here.

In a history book I read about a war named after a Rose. I donot know why and wonder at this unless they fought for a rose. Anyways I know that Rose is the official flower of the month of June. I know someone born in June who needs a rose embroidered something urgently – me myself.

If you donot know how to draw a rose freehand checkout the picture below for some very simple steps. Here are 6 easy ways to draw and paint a rose.

Related posts: Make beautiful felt roses: 4 ways 

15 different ways to stitch leaves for your flower designs