Woven wheel roses are an easy, beginner-friendly way to add floral elements to your hand embroidery designs. In this post, I've provided instructions for how to do the woven wheel rose stitch in photo, written, and video format (feel free to jump ahead, should videos be your preferred way to learn!
Step 1: Using straight stitch, embroider five evenly-spaced spokes, all meeting in the center.
You can use just three spokes to create smaller rosebuds, which I demonstrate in another blog post.
Try to keep these initial stitches nice and tight; you can still do this stitch even if your spokes get a bit loose, but it'll be a bit harder to do.
Step 2: Bring your needle up through your fabric in between two spokes, and near (but not through) the center.
I find that the stitch works best when you don't bring your needle up through the center itself, but that is really just a personal preference. If coming up through the center works best for you, then do what works best for you!
Step 3: Weave your needle around your spokes in an "under, over, under" pattern.
Be careful not to pierce your fabric, floss, or surrounding stitches as you weave.
In the photo below, you can see that I'm using my left thumb to gently guide the floss where I want it to go; this is the "secret" to prevent yourself from pulling too tightly as you make your way around your spokes.
Here's what my woven wheel rose looks like once I've finished about half of my weaving:
Troubleshooting: What do you do if you run out of floss mid-stitch?
If you run out of floss before you finish covering your spokes, bring your needle down through your fabric and gently tie off the end of your floss.
Next, bring your needle (with new floss) back up through your fabric and just next to where you ended your stitch.
Now you can continue weaving, in the same pattern as before, as though you never ran out of floss. This change will be barely noticeable so long as you continue the same weaving pattern as before.
Step 4: Continue weaving until you've completely covered your spokes.
Once you get toward the end of your stitching, you'll have to be extra careful not to pierce your floss or fabric. In the photo below, you can see that I'm gently pushing my fabric up as I weave underneath a spoke that has been almost completely covered with petal floss.
You'll also want to be sure to use your non-stitching fingers to help guide your floss around your shape as you pull; if you pull too tightly at this point, you risk unravelling your work.
Step 5: Once you've finished weaving, very gently secure your stitching.
Bring your needle through your fabric by placing it underneath your "petal" floss. When you tie it off to the back of your hoop, you'll want to be careful not to pull to tightly; again, if you pull too tightly, you risk unravelling your work.
Video tutorial for woven wheel roses
In the video tutorial below, I stitch a second woven wheel rose onto my fabric while my hoop is being held steady in an embroidery stand. You don't need a stand to do hand embroidery, and I actually find this stitch to be much easier to do outside of one!
I hope this was useful, and I can't wait to see what you make! If you'd like to share your work with me, you can always tag me on your social media accounts (@hopebroidery on Instagram and Twitter, @hope.broidery on TikTok). If you don't have public social accounts, but still want to share, consider emailing me a few pictures (hope@hopebroidery.com), I would love the chance to tell you how much I love your work!
Happy stitching!