How I Stitched the Wildflower Panel: A Step-by-Step Guide
I think stitching flowers will always be one of my favourite things to stitch. There’s just something so fun about choosing the colours! There are endless possibilities - soft pastels, vibrant brights, or a beautiful mix of both.
If you’re here, you probably love embroidery as much as I do 😊 And if you're anything like me, you've got plenty of threads stashed away - maybe even a small mountain of them. No judgment! That’s actually one of the reasons I created these embroidery panel designs. They’re pre-printed, so you can pop one straight into a hoop and start stitching right away, using some of those gorgeous threads that deserve to be seen, not hidden in a box.
For this wildflower panel, I went with a beautiful bright palette - pops of pinks, sunny oranges, yellows and zingy greens. But wouldn’t it be so lovely stitched in soft pastels too? Same design, completely different feel 😊
I ended up using loads of colours in this one - 16 in total! I just couldn’t help picking them out and using a good mix of different greens to help the stems really stand out. I actually used five different greens in the end (one of them because I wasn’t sure I had enough of the other… but the more the merrier, right?)
And just like with all of my embroidery panel designs… there are no rules! 😄 Pick your own colours, your favourite stitches, and stitch as much or as little as you like. Just the outlines, colour in some sections or cover every inch - go for it!
Now that I’ve finished stitching the wildflower panel, I’ll walk you through exactly how I did it in this step-by-step guide. I’ll cover the threads, stitches, needle sizes, techniques and a few handy tips along the way.
Let’s get stitching!🌼
What You’ll Need
Gather your supplies! Here’s everything you’ll need to get started:
A wildflower embroidery panel
A 5” embroidery hoop
Extra white fabric to double up in your hoop
Embroidery needles (I’ll explain sizes below)
Embroidery threads
Scissors
A nice hot cuppa... or two! 🤭
Don’t worry, I’ll break down each of these in more detail below so you’ll know exactly what to use and why.
A Wildflower Embroidery Panel
First up, you’ll need one of my flower embroidery panels. These are digitally drawn by me and printed onto 100% cotton using eco-friendly, water-based pigment inks right here in the UK.
You can grab your panel from my shop here………
I also offer these panels and part of a Panel Pack, which includes the 5” hoop and extra fabric 😊
A 5” Embroidery Hoop
This design fits in a 5” hoop. I always prefer using a hardwood hoop - I find that they’re more durable and keep a nice even tension. Being a natural material, wooden hoops do sometimes have small imperfections, but I do find hardwood ones tend to have fewer gaps and hold the fabric more securely.
Extra White Fabric
I highly recommend doubling up the fabric for these panels! I didn’t when I stitched the rabbit panel – but I really wish I had. 😬 I doubled up for this one and it makes such a difference. The white cotton stayed crisp, and it really helped prevent thread trails from showing through to the front.
So, learn from my previous mistakes - use two layers of fabric if you can!
Embroidery Needles
Using the right needle makes a big difference in how neat and precise your stitches turn out. Embroidery needles come in different sizes, and here’s what to keep in mind:
Larger needles: Best for stitching with all 6 strands of embroidery thread. They create bigger holes in the fabric, so if you’re using fewer strands, your stitches might shift of leave gaps.
Smaller needles: Great for finer stitching with 1-2 strands. If used with too many strands, though, pulling the thread through smoothly can get tricky.
To keep things simple, I offer needle packs in my shop with six needles in three sizes:
Large needles: For stitching with 6 strands.
Medium needles: For stitching with 3–4 strands.
Small needles: For stitching with 1–2 strands.
I’ll refer to these sizes throughout the guide so you can follow along easily. You can grab a needle pack from my shop here:
Embroidery Threads
For this project, I mainly used a mix of Anchor and DMC 6-stranded cotton threads. They are both high quality brands and have such vibrant colours and hold up beautifully over time.
I picked these shades from my (overflowing) thread stash, but feel free to choose colours that match your vision for your pretty wildflowers!
A rough colour plan before you start can be helpful, but don’t be afraid to adjust as you go.
Here’s the full list of 16 colours I used:
Anchor 210 – Medium Green
Anchor 211 – Dark Green (I was going to use 210 here, but I didn’t think I had enough so went a shade darker)
Anchor 242 – Light Grass Green
Anchor 244 – Medium Grass Green
Anchor 257 – Bright Green
Anchor 178 – Royal Blue
Anchor 63 – Bright Pink
Anchor 65 – Dark Pink
Anchor 66 – Light Purple
Anchor 89 – Bright Purple
Anchor 298 – Buttercup Yellow
Anchor 292 – Pale Yellow
DMC 721 – Orange
DMC 3854 – Pale Orange
Anchor 2 – White
Anchor 358 – Brown (just a tiny bit for the primrose eyes)
Anchor and DMC threads are numbered for easy reference, so if you’d like to match my colours exactly, look for these numbers. And remember, this is your project! Have fun experimenting with colours that inspire you.
Scissors
Any sharp scissors will do the job, but embroidery scissors are ideal. Their small, pointed blades help you trim threads cleanly and reach tight spaces without fraying the ends. If you don’t have embroidery scissors, any small, sharp scissors from your sewing kit will work just fine.
A Nice Hot Cuppa
I’m a tea girl… but you do you! 😊☕
2. The Stitches
Here are the stitches I used for this one:
Stem Stitch
Satin Stitch
Padded Satin Stitch
French Knots
Split Stitch
Leaf Stitch
Straight Stitch
Rhodes Circle Stitch
Couch Stitch
Whipped Backstitch
Oh! I did use a bunch of different stitches, didn’t I? 😅 Just remember - you can pick stitches that you love. You could absolutely stitch this using fewer stitch types. I really loved using different stitches for the different stems, but you could absolutely use the same stitch for all of the stems if you like. Or, you could also add in even more stitches! Have fun with it. 😊
For extra guidance on stitches, be sure to check out my ‘Stitch of the Week’ page, where you’ll find a growing library of stitch tutorial videos. While not all stitches might be up just yet, the collection is expanding regularly!
3. Let’s Start Stitching
First, pop your embroidery panel and extra fabric into the hoop, making sure the fabric is nice and taut. I always aim for a drum-like tension - it helps keep stitches neat and prevents wrinkles in the fabric.
Here’s how to get that nice drum tension:
Place the fabric over the inner hoop and press the outer hoop on top.
Gently pull the edges of the fabric outside the hoop to smooth out any bumps or wrinkles.
Tighten the screw mechanism until the hoop feels secure.
Give the fabric around the edges one final pull to tighten it further.
Your fabric should now feel tight like a drum and be ready for stitching!
💡 Tip: Keep an eye on the tension as you stitch – it can loosen with stitching. If that happens, simply tighten it back up as needed.
4. Step-by-Step Stitching Guide
With such an overlapping design, I’d usually recommend starting at the back and working your way forward… but I didn’t exactly take my own advice this time! 😅 It really doesn’t matter, as long as you’ve got a bit of a plan. I mostly just stitched whichever flower I fancied next - and that’s completely okay.
There are quite a few elements in this one, but don’t worry - I’ll walk you through how I stitched each bit.
Okay, onto the stitching!
The Bluebell Stems
I started with the bluebells – of course! They’re my favourites! 😍 I stitched rows of Stem Stitches from the base of the stem up to the top. I did three rows at the bottom, where the stem is thicker, and gradually reduced to two rows as it thinned out.
Stitch – Stem Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 210 (Medium Green)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Medium
Just a little note to say, a lot of the photos here were taken after I’d finished stitching. So they kind of don’t quite match the step-by-step order of this wildflower stitching story. It turns out the lighting in most of the progress pics I took was soo bad that you could barely see the stitches and the colours were gross 🙈. I figured it’d be much more helpful to retake them in proper daylight, so you can actually see how the stitches turned out. But I’ve kept the instructions in order that I did the stitching.
Bluebell Flowers
I used a mix of Satin Stitch and Padded Satin Stitch for each of the bluebell flowers. For the bell parts, I went with Padded Satin Stitch to give them a nice, rounded shape. I stitched three horizontal Lazy Daisies in each bell as padding – you can use any stitch you like here, but I find Lazy Daisies give a really lovely bit of lift.
Then I stitched the petals at the bottom of the flowers using vertical Satin Stitches.
Stitch – Satin Stitch and Padded Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 178 (Royal Blue)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Medium
Silene Flower Petals
Next, I stitched the silene petals using Satin Stitch. There’s one flower that’s side-on, and I stitched those petals in the same way.
✨ A little tip:
When working satin stitches on a curve, try shortening some of the stitches to prevent too much of a thread buildup at the base of the petals.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 63 (Bright Pink)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
Silene Flower Centres
I went with just one large French Knot for the centre of each of these pretty flowers.
Stitch – French Knot with 3 wraps
Thread colour – Anchor 2 (White)
Number of strands – 6
Needle size – Large
Silene Buds
I stitched the buds, and the base of that one side-on flower, using Satin Stitch. I used the dark pink thread for the unopened petals and the flower base, and then stitched the base of the buds in bright green so they would blend nicely into the stems.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 65 (Dark Pink) and Anchor 257 (Bright Green)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle
Silene Stems
For these stems, I stitched single rows of Split Stitch. I started at the bottom of the stems and worked my way up to the flowers.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 257 (Bright Green)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle
Silene Leaves
And to finish off these bright and cheerful silenes, I stitched the three leaves using Satin Stitch. I angled the stitches to follow the natural shape of each leaf.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 257 (Bright Green)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle
Cow Parsley Stems
Now onto those cow parsleys at the back (see - I told you I wasn’t following my own advice! These are the flowers right at the back of the design). Since they’re meant to sit in the distance, I stitched the stems a little thinner so they’d appear further away. I used single rows of Stem Stitch, starting with the main stem and branching off at the top.
Stitch – Stem Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 242 (Light Grass Green)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
Cow Parsley Flowers
For those fluffy little flowers, I filled the area with French Knots. I think it gives them such a lovely texture and makes for a really pretty way to stitch these.
Stitch – French Knots with 2 wraps
Thread colour – Anchor 2 (White)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
Bluebell Leaf
Now jumping back to the front of the design (I know, sorry! I’m just writing this in the order I stitched it 😅), I used Leaf Stitch to finish off that beautiful bluebell with its long leaf.
Stitch – Leaf Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 210 (Medium Green)
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Middle
Buttercup Petals
On to the sunny buttercups! I just had to go with a bright yellow for these 🌼 I stitched all of the petals using Satin Stitch, just like I did with the silene flowers.
Don’t forget that little tip about using shorter stitches when working on a curve - it helps avoid too much thread building up at the base of each petal.
Leave the unopened buds for now - I’ll come back to those in a bit.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 298 (Buttercup Yellow)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
Buttercup Petal Details
I decided to add some cute little details to the buttercup petals using Straight Stitches in a soft pale yellow. I think it just adds a nice little something-something 😊
I made each stitch a slightly different length and angled them so they radiate out from the centre of the flower, following the direction of the petals.
Stitch – Straight Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 292 (Pale Yellow)
Number of strands – 1
Needle size – Small
Buttercup Centres
I filled all of the centres with French Knots, packed closely together to give them that lovely textured look.
✨ A little tip:
Start with a ring of French Knots around the outside, then work your way inward with smaller rings until the whole centre is filled.
Stitch – French Knots with 2 wraps
Thread colour – Anchor 298 (Buttercup Yellow)
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Middle
Buttercup Stems
Now, I originally planned to use Anchor 210 (Medium Green) for these stems, but my bobbin was running low, and I was worried I wouldn’t have enough for all of the stems, so I switched to the next shade. I’m actually really happy with how the darker green turned out!
I stitched all of the stems with a single row of Split Stitch, using 2 strands for the ones further back and 3 strands for the ones towards the front.
Stitch – French Knot (with 2 wraps)
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 211 (Dark Green)
Number of strands – 3 strands and 2 strands
Needle size – Middle and Small
Buttercup Buds
So, all that’s left of the buttercups are those circular buds. I used Rhodes Stitch here because I just love the texture it gives and think it’s the perfect stitch for circles.
Stitch – Rhodes Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 298 (Buttercup Yellow)
Number of strands – 2 strands
Needle size – Small
This is how we’re looking so far 🪡
Foxglove Stem
On to the mighty foxglove! I filled the stem of the foxglove with Split Stitches. I started at the bottom and stitched all the way to the very top. This is a great stitch to use here because the stem varies in thickness, and all the stitches can easily blend together and into the top section with this stitch.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 244 (Medium Grass Green)
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Foxglove Flowers – Petal insides
I started with the insides of the foxglove petals. I stitched them with Satin Stitch and angled the stitches to follow the curve of the trumpet, leading up to the point where the flower joins the stem.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 66 (Light Purple)
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Foxglove Flowers – Petal outsides
I wanted to stitch the outside of the flowers so that they were a bit more raised up than the petal insides, just to give them the appearance that they are over the top of the inside of the petal. I started with a single row of Split Stitches on the edge, and then stitched Satin Stitches over the top. As with the inside, I angled the satin stitches towards the point where the flower meets the stem.
Stitch – Padded Satin Stitch (just a bit of padding on the edge)
Thread colour – Anchor 89 (Bright Purple)
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Foxglove Flower Buds
For those foxglove flowers that haven’t fully opened yet, I stitched them with Padded Satin Stitch - just a single row of Split Stitches on the end where they’ll eventually open, to give them a little extra lift.
Stitch – Padded Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 89 (Bright Purple)
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Foxglove Flower Bud Bases
And to finish off the buds, I stitched their bases with Satin Stitch using the same green as the stem to tie them all together. I ended up popping in a couple of extra stitches in the centre of each one to pad them up a bit and make them a little more round.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 244 (Medium Grass Green)
Number of strands – 6 strands
Needle size – Large
Foxglove Flower Detail
You could absolutely leave your flowers as they are, but I decided to add an extra row of stitches along the line where the outer petal meets the inner petals. I just wasn’t fully happy with how they looked - they still felt like they were sitting side by side, rather than the outer petal overlapping the inner one.
So, I stitched a single line of Stem Stitch along the edge of the outer petal, just to finish them off and enhance that layered look.
Now, I won’t lie - this bit was a tad fiddly 😅 (mostly because I hadn’t planned my back knots very well!), and you’ll want to be careful not to snag your Satin Stitches. But I think it’s completely worth the effort.
Stitch – Stem Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 89 (Bright Purple)
Number of strands – 2 strands
Needle size – Small
Primrose Flower Petals
Now all that’s left are the primroses! I started with the flower petals and stitched them with Satin Stitch. I began by stitching the outer sections of the petals first, using the darker orange thread. I took these stitches just beyond the line on the design.
Then I stitched the inner sections of the petals with the lighter orange, blending the stitches into the darker orange ones at varying lengths to give a soft transition.
✨ A little tip:
I know, I know - I’ve mentioned this a couple of times already, but I’m going to say it again! When stitching satin stitches on a curve, try shortening some of the stitches to prevent too much thread buildup at the base of the petals.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – DMC 721 (Orange) for the outer petals, DMC 3854 (Pale Orange) for the inner petals
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Primrose Centres
I just added a few horizontal Satin Stitches to fill the centre of each flower — a soft little base for their sweet Primrose ‘eyes’ to sit on.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 2 (White)
Number of strands – 2 strands
Needle size – Small
Primrose Eyes
I just love those little ‘eyes’ that primrose flowers have right in the centre, so I added one tiny Couch Stitch in the middle of each one. I think it’s such a cute touch and really finishes off these pretty flowers. 🌼
Stitch – Couch Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 358 (Brown)
Number of strands – 2 strands
Needle size – Small
Primrose Stems
I stitched each stem with a single row of Whipped Backstitch. I started with the stem on the right - since I’m right-handed, I find it easier to whip my stitches from right to left. That way, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally catching any stitches I’d already done. If you’re left-handed, you might find the opposite direction easier.
✨ A little tip:
I like to press a finger underneath the hoop, right under the area I’m whipping. It lifts the fabric just enough to help avoid snagging any stitches with the needle.
Stitch – Whipped backstitch
Thread colour – Anchor 257 (Bright Green)
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Primrose Leaves
I think primrose leaves have a tough, textured feel to them, so I chose Split Stitch for these. I angled the stitches out from the centre of each leaf, following that classic leaf shape.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 257 (Bright Green)
Number of strands – 3 strands
Needle size – Middle
Primrose Leaf Centre Lines
Finally, to finish off these leaves (and to cover up any slightly wonky stitching from late-night embroidery sessions with a glass of wine in hand!), I added a single line of Stem Stitch down the centre of each leaf, from bottom to top. I used the same bright green as the rest of the leaf, but a different shade of green could also work beautifully.
Stitch – Stem Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 257 (Bright Green)
Number of strands – 2 strands
Needle size – Small
And that’s it!
The stitching for this beautiful bunch of wildflowers is all finished! I absolutely love how it turned out 😍. I hope you do too!
5. Finishing and Displaying your Embroidery
You can frame your finished embroidery in the same hoop you used for stitching, which is one of my favourite ways to display my embroidery projects. To do this, trim away the excess fabric, leaving a few cm’s all the way around.
Next, stitch a running stitch about 1 cm from the fabric edge using 6 strands of thread, leaving unknotted tails at both the start and finish. Gently pull these tails to gather the fabric, then tie a knot to hold it in place.
I’ll show you how to do this in this video (it’s a Christmas one, sorry about that! 🙈 but the process is the same):
The best part about this method is that it’s not permanent! If you later decide to add more to your embroidery or change something, you can easily remove the running stitches and keep stitching until you’re happy with the design.
Then, step back and admire your beautiful stitching!
I hope you loved this project as much as I did!
I’m going to be stitching my way through all of my new embroidery designs (I’ve just launched 14 of them!) and will be adding similar blog posts like this one as I go. But of course, you can have fun stitching them before that! If you need a bit of guidance, the Panel Packs come with stitch suggestion sheets, and many of the elements from the blog posts I wrote for the hand-printed panels can still be applied to the new designs.
You can find them all here……….
And don’t forget to tag me on social media when you show off your beautiful work - I’d love to see it!
If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my work, feel free to visit my Ko-fi and leave a tip - every little bit helps keep the creativity flowing! 🌸
Enjoy your stitching!
Until next time,
Liz x