Creating a stitched flower design that’s perfectly curved [free tutorial]

Can you believe how amazing and easy the circle appliques are to make using the Husqvarna Viking Circular Attachment? I’m amazed. Along with the circular attachment, I’m using the Husqvarna Viking Tribute 150C this week, and it seems that anything is possible.

Today, I’m using the circular attachment again, but I’m creating stitched flowers and playing with different thread weights instead of the applique.

Earlier, I shared that the circular attachment comes with three plastic templates, which we’ll play with today.

As we know, the circular attachment has numbers printed on the side indicating the radius of the circle you wish to create. The numbers, in centimeters, match the numbers on the templates. The templates are also crucial for marking where to insert the push pin and where to start and stop stitching, especially when creating multi-point designs.

The first template is for creating circles. I didn’t use this for my applique circles, as they were straightforward, but this template is beneficial if you get into more complex circle designs.

A circular attachment and the plastic template

I can mark the dots of a circular shape and use the template to draw the lines right on my project or on a scrap of paper to help me design the project.

An arc created with the circle template

The other two templates create either a four or a six-petal flower. Let your creativity run wild with the possibilities; however, I’ll keep this exercise reasonably straightforward.

An instruction sheet in the box clearly explains how the templates work and gives tips on successfully using the circular attachment.

Instructions for the circular attachment

The first thing is to determine the size of the flower you want to create and where you want it to go on your project. My cushions are 16” square, so I went with the largest size on the template (26cm). And I decided to place the four-petal flower in the center, so I drew a crosshair in the center of the cover with white chalk.

Registration lines on my cushion cover

I experimented on a piece of paper to understand the concept, and I used the 16cm marks because of the size.

I positioned the template on my black fabric, matching the center to my crosshairs. I used a white chalk pencil and marked the right side, which included six dots in all the spots for 26cm.

Marking the right-hand side of my practice piece

Then I moved the template to the left side, matched the points along the center line, and marked three more dots.

Marking the left side of my practice piece

There are nine dots. Four dots are the spots for the push pin, four other dots represent the stops and starts of the stitching, while the center dot is for reference only. It was super easy with the template to get those marks.

The reference points for a four-petal flower

How does one decipher where the push pin goes and where to stop and start stitching? Again, this is all outlined in the included brochure, but here’s my crudely drawn map to guide me. The corners marked A represent where I start and stop stitching. The push pin goes in the middle dots along the edges. I start sewing in a corner and end up in the adjacent corner. Then, with my needle down to hold the fabric in place, I move the push pin to dot number 2 and stitch the second curved seam. Repeat this four times, and you get a four-petal flower with one continuous line of stitching made up of four curved lines. It’s super easy!

A rough drawing of the curved seams

I wanted to play with the stitches and my topstitch thread, so here’s what I did. I’ll need to rotate at the corners, so a stitch with a short sequence and narrower will be better than a long, wide one.

I like to push limits and wanted to see if the topstitching thread would work with the triple stitch (1:03) so the stitching is bold. It’s always a good idea to test the stitch and thread before you start on your project, and I keep scraps of fabric with stabilizer attached for just that purpose. All looked good, so I was ready to start.

Test stitches on scrap fabric

Make sure you’re using the correct size spool cap as well. In the photo below, the thread is not flowing freely with the medium-sized spool cap.

The spool cap is too large for this spool of thread

Look at how much better it is with the small spool cap. The spool cap size can affect your work, so pay attention; you’ll find two sizes (medium and small) with the Tribute 150C.

The small spool cap works much better for the small spool.

I also changed the needle to a topstitch needle, and I was able to use the needle threader, even with thick thread. Be sure the thread is entirely through the eye of the needle. Because of the thickness, it’s easy for one of the fibers to shred as you thread the eye, so be careful that it’s threaded correctly.

A properly threaded topstitching needle

And the last thing to check before we start stitching is that the slider/guide on the circular attachment is in the correct position, as it must be the same number we used on the template. I used the 26cm markings on my cushion cover, so I set the circular attachment to that measurement.

Set the slider to the corresponding size on the templates

Now we can start stitching. I have the push pin sitting in the top middle dot and beginning to sew at the dot in the top right. Because the thread was so thick, I did not use the FIX function. Instead, I brought the bobbin thread to the top of the work to prevent a thread nest underneath. I’ll show you how I dealt with all those threads in a minute.

Starting to sew the first curved line

And now I keep stitching. Because of the push pin, the work rotates, and I continue until I reach the dot in the top left corner. Be careful that your fabric doesn’t bunch up as it turns. I ensured it was always smooth from the needle to the push pin. If you don’t, the points will not match up.

Sewing the curved line of stitching using the circular attachment

When I got to the dot in the top left, I ensured the needle was in the down position and raised the presser foot. Then, I removed the push pin and placed it in the next spot. The process became so intuitive I didn’t need my hand-drawn map – once you rotated the fabric around the needle, it was evident which dot the pin needed to be in to sew the next curved line of stitching. There’s no need to break the thread at the corner, just reposition the pin, pivot the fabric, and keep sewing.

Starting the second curved stitching line

I continued stitching until I was back at the starting point. Wow! I’m so impressed at how perfectly everything lined up – even the center. My thread broke once – not sure what happened there, but the triple stitch with the topstitching thread is very defined! I wasn’t sure the Tribute 150C could handle the topstitching thread with the triple stitch, but it did a fantastic job!

The four-petal flower

I was so excited at how easy this was that I wanted to add another line inside the red petals. I used white thread and was going to stitch over the red lines in the center, and then I thought that wouldn’t look good, so I stitched an individual petal inside each red petal. As I got close to the center, I had to tug on the fabric just a smidgen to keep the white thread inside the red, but it worked like a charm.

Adding a line of white stitching inside the red lines

Soon I had a white petal inside each of the red petals. I pulled all the threads to the back and tied them by hand. I used a straight stitch and white topstitching thread for the smaller petals. Wow! I love this, and I can’t believe how easy it was. I added registration marks for the small petal before I started to sew.

A four-petal flower

The cushion cover is complete, but the beauty of using invisible zippers is that you can get two sides on every cover!

I wanted to try the six-petal template. I used a narrow satin stitch (1:30) and a 40-weight embroidery thread this time.

I used the same process as the four-petal flower, but the stitching process is slightly different.

Stitching the six-petal flower

Instead of being able to stitch the entire six-petal flower with one start and stop, it requires two starts and stops.

Starting the second part of the six-petal flower

Honestly, it was so easy to create these shapes. I had zero issues with things not lining up, and the endpoint always matched the beginning point; at most, it was out by one stitch, and I corrected that by hand when I pulled the threads to the back! Super easy!

Stitching the second part of the six-petal flower

Then I sewed the covers together as I did earlier this week, using an invisible zipper. Here’s one side of both.

The first side of the cushion covers

And here’s the second side of each! Wow! I can’t believe how easy and fast it was to create these covers.

The other side of the cushion covers

As I was stitching, the possibilities of other designs popped into my head. I can do so much with the circular attachment and those templates; I need to play some more!

I’m glad I interfaced my linen, as it gives the cushions good shaping. If you remember, back at the beginning, I contemplated the size to cut my covers and whether I should add a seam allowance. Looking at these, I could’ve done without adding it, and I may go back and nip off some and resew the seams as I feel the covers are slightly too large for the cushion forms. But the trimmed corners look great.

I’m impressed at what I can do with the Husqvarna Viking Tribute 150C and the Circular Attachment. I pushed it hard using topstitch thread for the triple stitch, and it performed beautifully with a well-formed stitch that, if you look closely, almost looks like a hand stitch and wool! Wow!

Husqvarna Viking Tribute 150C

I need to dress up the red and black plaid cushion from earlier in the week, so be sure to come back tomorrow to see what I make!

Have a great day!

Ciao!

This is part 4 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 3: Perfect applique circles with the Husqvarna Viking Circular Attachment

Go to part 5: It’s a WRAP! Using applique and piping to make a cushion wrap band

Print this page or save as a PDF