Hibiscus Flower Cross Stitch Pattern

About this hibiscus cross stitch pattern

The five petals shade from deep crimson on one side to soft pink on the other, and a golden stamen reaches out across the center. Two leaves sit below the bloom, and the design is almost exactly square, so it frames neatly.

Hibiscus turns up far less often in cross stitch than roses or sunflowers, so it’s a floral gift that won’t look like every other one. The bold red and pink make it a bright accent for a summer room or a tropical-themed wall. The floral collection has more flowers. For hoop and frame sizes, see how to frame and finish cross stitch. For more beach and tropical designs, see our summer cross stitch patterns.

What you need

• Fabric: 14-count Aida in white, cut to at least 12“ x 12“ (3“ around the design for hooping and framing).
• Thread: 17 DMC colors, about 17 skeins in total, stitched with two strands. The main colors are 893 Carnation – Light (534 stitches), 906 Parrot Green – Medium (431), 3326 Rose – Light (389) and 347 Salmon – Very Dark (380).
• Needle: a size 24 tapestry needle.
• Stitches: full cross stitches only, with no backstitch.

Difficulty and stitching time

It’s rated Intermediate. Every stitch is a full cross, but the petals rely on a cluster of close pinks and salmons: 893, 3326, 347 and 3328 cover 1,652 of the 3,495 stitches. Telling those four apart is the main skill this pattern asks for. Expect roughly 35 to 60 hours at a steady 60 to 100 stitches an hour.

Tips for stitching this pattern

• Card the four pinks before you start. 893 Carnation – Light, 3326 Rose – Light, 347 Salmon – Very Dark and 3328 Salmon – Dark are close in tone; working from memory instead of the chart is how mismatched petals happen.
• Stitch the stamen last. 973 Canary – Bright and 972 Canary – Deep cross over several petal colors, so place them once the petals are filled and you can see exactly where the stamen runs.
• Finish one side of the flower at a time. The red petals and the pink petals use different groups of colors, so completing one side before the other means fewer skeins on the go at once.

Size, fabric and framing

On 14-count Aida the finished design measures 5.1“ x 5.2“ (13.0 x 13.2 cm). On 16-count it comes out at 4.5“ x 4.6“, and on 18-count at 4.0“ x 4.1“. For the 14-count version, an 8“ x 10“ frame leaves room for a mat.

Being square, it also suits a 6-inch hoop or a square frame, and a white mat keeps the red petals vivid.

What’s in the free PDF

• A cover page and a one-page overview with a preview of the design
• The chart, split across as many printable pages as you choose, in color or black and white, with a symbol for every DMC color, center lines, a mini-map showing which part of the design each page covers and a color key on every page
• The thread list: DMC number, color name, number of stitches and skeins to buy for each color
• The finished size on 11-, 14-, 16-, 18- and 28-count Aida