Violets by Ana Mallah

You’ve decided you’re going to buy some flowers as a gift for a friend/family member to let them know you’re thinking of them.

Upon arriving at your local florist, you’re inundated with an array of gorgeous seasonal blooms bursting with colour and fragrance.

Now the hard part… making just the right selection!

Picking up a copy of Ana Mallah’s debut book In Bloom is a very similar experience.

As you turn each page you’re inundated with a sensory overload of stitched beauty and natural wonder.

So many different artistic forms of florals, needlework techniques, colours and finishes leaving you itching to begin stitching.

Now the hard part… making just the right selection!

With 10 stunning projects to choose from, you might be thinking that you’d like to fill you home with one of each and don’t know where to start, or perhaps you’re pondering which one you like best.

Today we’re hopefully going to help make that decision a little easier for you as we take a closer look at the project simply titled Violets.

The violet has a beautiful perfume that is sweet and strangely powdery, and with the rose and lavender, is one of the most enduring and loved fragrances.

Growing in low clumps, the single flowers are held above a cluster of leaves and scent the air on a warm, still day. Stitched onto a natural linen blend background, this elegant study combines surface embroidery with detached leaves and petals.

The simplicity of the composition and the elegance of finish make this piece both visually striking and one of the less involved projects from In Bloom to stitch.

Worked using just eight different techniques from one size needle and 13 thread colours, Violets is the ideal In Bloom project to begin with both in scale and complexity.

Measuring 12.5cm x 7.5cm wide (5" x 3") when completed, the primary technique is stumpwork with a nice balance of surface embroidery in the mix as well.

In the stumpwork department we have two lush green leaves, six large and four small violet petals as well as two green bud petals, all of which you create as detached elements.

The rest of the design is completed using surface embroidery primarily worked in split stitch and long and short stitch.

All in all, not only is this a delightful and wholly satisfying piece to stitch that leans towards the easier end of the difficulty scale, the end result has this wonderful feeling of soulful elegance.

Ready-to-Stitch kits for Violets are also available and come with the design pre-printed onto the fabric along with all the essential elements required including threads, beads, wire and more.

So next time you’re looking for some flowers as a gift or wondering which project to stitch next, the answer is as simple and elegant as the bloom itself - Violets.