Here’s another hand embroidery pattern from Lilly’s Legacy. Like the “Hearts for Whitework” pattern posted in April, this one is painted simply in black. This particular style of pattern was apparently intended by Lilly to be a whitework embroidery pattern.

Like many of the other Hungarian embroidery patterns in this series so far, this one lends itself to all kinds of possibilities in other craft areas, including appliqués, paper and wood crafts, and so forth. For embroidery, though, the oblong nature of this design suggests a table runner to me.

See how the whole design is connected? Besides the fact that it’s black, the piece reminds me of a paper silhouette. The fact that the design is completely connected lends itself to cutwork, though you’d have to work in a “web” of supporting bars. I know there’s a reader who is using these patterns for twilling on quilt squares, using tone-on-tone colors – it looks really neat! – so that’s a possibility, too. I’d love to hear some of your ideas on how a design like this one could be stitched – what does it say to you, when you look at it?!

I’ll present the pattern here in two ways again, as the full pattern and then the corner, enlarged, that you can print and repeat four times. Here’s the full pattern line drawing:

Here’s the PDF for the full pattern:

Hungarian Hand Embroidery Pattern #7: Whitework Birds – Full Pattern (PDF)

And here’s the corner design:

And the PDF for the corner:

Hungarian Hand Embroidery Pattern #7: Whitework Birds – Corner (PDF)

There are several other Hungarian Hand Embroidery Patterns from Lilly’s Legacy here on Needle ‘n Thread, some more complicated and some less, so if you’re hankering to stitch something kind of folky, feel free to stop by my hand embroidery patterns page.

Ok – your turn – how do you see this pattern interpreted in stitching (or other crafts)??? Leave a comment and inspire the rest of us!