Moving between the earth and the heavens, birds are often seen as symbols of hope, of freedom, of new beginnings.

Read on to see 5 different approaches to embroidering birds–and choose one for your own hoop.


1. Blissful bird blended into clouds

The Rolling Hills embroidery pattern is a idyllic rendering of rural hillsides stitched with repeating fills and flora. And then–blended into the clouds–is an oversized and blissful bluebird.

The bird is simply stitched with the outline in SPLIT stitch and the belly with CHAIN. A yellow cheek is filled with SATIN stitch.

2. Common birds stitched with textured chain-stitch fill

Here’s a look at three common backyard birds: the sparrow, wren, and tufted titmouse. They are filled with richly textured CHAIN stitching and presented against a simplified background of cedar trees and birdhouse. The whole scene is framed by LEAF-stitched leaves and blossoms in LAZY DAISY stitch. Stitch them yourself with Small Birds embroidery kit.


3. Simplified birds in mid-century modern design

I designed Tree of Life taking cues from the mid-century modern characteristics of clear lines with simple organic and geometric forms. The leaves are pattern-filled circles, and the birds also are built on simple geometrics. Stitched in salmon and terra cotta colors, they stand out in this tree of greens and blues.  

4. Regal fowl in stitched layers

Peacocks originated in India where they were symbols of royalty. In the Bible, they are part of the treasure taken to King Solomon’s court.

On Peacock Dreams, we’ve embroidered a peacock’s multi-color feathers with lines in either SPLIT or CHAIN stitch (depending on how thick you want them). The center eye outlines LAZY DAISY hearts with BACK stitched circles.

5. Backyard fowl stitched with folk-art fill

Whether you’ve got a backyard hen coop or just love the idea of hens in a kitchen garden, we’ve got a few designs with folk-art styled hens.

Country Garden is a traditional band sampler of garden motifs–starting with the folk-art styled hen at top left. Fill comb and beak with SATIN stitches and then use a variety of colorful stitches for the fill: whipped back, lazy daisy, fly, straight, satin, split, outline and more.

If you want a simpler design for your backyard bird, Garden Hen gives you another hen, with different fills, alongside garden veggies. Display this alone or with any of the pieces from the Country Garden Collection.

Here’s a whole set of hens with creative stitch fills in the Chickens Stick & Stitch set.


FALL in love with stitching...

...whether you love pumpkin lattes, gourd-filled trugs, or spooky scenes, we've got something for everyone who adores Autumn over in the Stitched Stories shop!