Lazy Daisy / Daffodil Stitch Tutorial

What a beautiful day today has been, a bit of sun was definitely needed around here.

After a lovely drive home from work through the back lanes with some tunes turned up on the radio (is it just me that turns the radio up when its sunny) I picked up my little miss from school and headed home. This is what greeted me on the kitchen windowsill. The one thing we do seem to grow well, beautiful Orchids.

So as the title says I'm bringing you a little flower themed tutorial. Its a great way to use a very simple stitch to make a really useful little embellishment, or you can use it in a larger piece of work (as I did in the work from the last blog post). So here we go....

The lazy daisy

Start by bringing your thread up at a point where you would like the centre of your little daisy to be. Then take the needle back down through the fabric very close to where the thread has appeared

Pull this through until a large loop has formed (but not all the way through)

Then bring your needle up a distance away from the centre. The distance depends on how  wide you would like your final flower to be. As you pull your thread through the fabric make sure that your needle is going through the loop you have made. Once all the way through you should have  a petal shape. Take needle back down over the rounded part of this loop, making a small stitch

Like this! You have your first petal! This is also know as a detached chain stitch 

Add more petals in exactly the same way around the centre trying to make sure that they are the same length ( you can make this more accurate by drawing a small circle with a transfer pen (the kind that disappear or can be washed away) This will ensure that all of your petals are the same length. I tend to wing it!

Et Voilà  your finished daisy. You can decorate these further by adding a cluster of French knots in the centre or maybe even a bead or two. Try using different colours for each petal or even a multicoloured thread.

This is one variation that I came up with to turn this stitch into a daffodil like flower.
Make your original 'daisy' in the same way but leave a bigger hole in the centre, as above.
Then start to work French knots  around the base of your petals in a circle,
which will create the  trumpet of your daffodil.

Here is the finished daffodil. They look quite nice when you stitch them in cluster and amongst other flowers. 

Have a go, and if you do I'd love to see what you come up with. You could post a pic over on my Facebook page (the link is just at the side here) Or post to Instagram or Pinterest and tag me so I can take a look

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend (if you are in the UK) or just a great weekend elsewhere . I am looking forward to having my first go and hand-painting a skein of wool this weekend with a lovely friend. SO keep them peeled for the results here soon!