Technique Thursday: French Knot & Ribbon Stitch = Aster!

Hello!

Today, I will be walking you through how to create an Aster. This is a very simple flower to make. To form the flower, you will do two types of stitches: A french knot and ribbon stitches, the simplest of stitches. Let's begin!

A lot of patterns start you off with stitching the flower petals first, yet I like to start at the center and work my way out. Cut yourself a nice length of yellow ribbon and secure it to your chenille needle. Choose a place on your fabric where you will stitch the flower- I recommend sketching a small circle with a pencil or water erasing fabric pen. You will stitch this knot at the center of the circle and place the petals to the edge of the circle.
Pull the ribbon through and twist it around your needle. Patterns often call for different sorts of french knots- a two french knot is wrapping the fabric around the needle twice, for example.

Place the needle very close to where it came through. Gently pierce the fabric here- and this is where I use my other hand to pull the extra ribbon and tighten the loops around the needle. You will want to hold this ribbon as you pull the knot through. You can play with this technique and learn to pull the knot to give a loose or tight knot, depending on what flower you want to create. This knot alone can be used to create flowers. For example, three closely placed french knots as I have done here can be a spray of rose buds. They also work nicely for baby's breath or flower buds of any flower.
To stitch the Aster petals, place four ribbon stitches in a dark pink color. Place these stitches as I have- at four points. To form the ribbon stitch, bring the ribbon up to the front of your fabric. Use your finger to lay out a 'petal' with the ribbon, then place the needle where you want the tip of the petal to be. Pull until the ribbon makes these nice 'curls' by folding inward. Look to the following picture for an example.

Complete the Aster by stitching ribbon stitches around the flower. I like to make some stitches smaller than others, especially in between these four first stitches. It's important that these stitches radiate out from the center at straight points- think of this as the rays of a sun in a child's picture.
Completed Aster! Well done :)

Next week, we'll work on Blue Convulvolus!