It’s great to find a new embroidery effect, and it’s even better when it’s as easy as the silk flower technique. Jackie Woods of www.greatnotions.com introduced me to the concept, and I found it absolutely stunning.

Jackie used the technique to make this purse. The design stitches the leaves and stems, and the stitches an X to serve as a target to place the silk flower petal. It's a very clever technique and the variations are endless. Jackie supplies petals with the design pack, Silk Flowers 2.

https://www.greatembroiderydesigns.com/main.asp?targetpage=list_designers&MenuCat=GREAT%20NOTIONS&SubMenuCat=SILK%20FLOWERS%20II

When I used this technique to create a this lampshade in my new book, Dimensional Machine Embroidery, I bought the petals in a bottle in the scrapbook supply section of a craft store.  You can also just pull them from inexpensive silk flower stems.

After stitching the target, apply adhesive from a glue stick to the back of the flower petal. Center the petal over the target X and stitch the center of the flower.