How to Embroider a Blackbird with Watercolour: Step-by-Step Guide
I’ve been experimenting with watercolour paints again for this project, and I love how it’s turned out! The blend of paint and stitching gives the blackbird such a cute and pretty effect. While my watercolour painting didn’t turn out exactly as planned, it captures the essence, and I think it adds a fun touch.
Of course, you don’t have to paint the embroidery panels—you can leave them plain or simply stitch the blackbird alongside any background details or wording you like. In this guide, I’ll show you step by step how I painted mine and stitched this adorable blackbird. I’ll cover everything from the threads and stitches I used to needle sizes, techniques, and handy tips to make the process easier.
Whether you follow the steps to the letter or add your own creative spin, I hope this guide helps you create something you love. Let’s get stitching!
What You’ll Need
Gather your supplies! Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
A blackbird embroidery square
An embroidery hoop
Embroidery Needles (I’ll explain sizes below)
Embroidery Threads
Scissors
Watercolour paints
Paintbrushes
A plastic sheet (I used a bin liner, but any waterproof covering works)
Don’t worry, I’ll break down each of these in more detail below so you’ll know exactly what to use and why.
A Hand-Printed Embroidery Square
First up, you’ll need one of my blackbird embroidery squares. These are lovingly hand-printed on natural calico fabric, making them a perfect canvas for your favorite stitches and thread colours. The durable yet soft calico is easy to work with, ensuring a smooth stitching experience.
You can get your blackbird embroidery square from my shop here………
An Embroidery Hoop
I stitched my blackbird in a 5” hoop, which fits perfectly with all of my embroidery squares. This size gives you plenty of room to stitch comfortably and even leaves space for any extra embellishments you might want to add. An embroidery hoop keeps your fabric taut while you work, making stitching easier and more precise.
If you don’t have a 5” hoop, other sizes can work too - just make sure it’s large enough to fit the blackbird design comfortably.
Embroidery Needles
Using the right needle can make a big difference in how neat and precise your stitches turn out. Embroidery needles come in a range of sizes, and here’s what to keep in mind:
Larger needles: Ideal for stitching with all 6 strands of embroidery thread. However, they create bigger holes in the fabric, so if you’re stitching with just a few strands, a large needle might leave gaps or cause stitches to shift.
Smaller needles: Perfect for finer stitching with fewer strands (1–2), but if used with too many strands, it can be tricky to pull the thread through smoothly.
To make things simple, I offer needle packs in my shop with six needles in three sizes:
Large needles: For stitching with 6 strands.
Medium needles: For stitching with 3–4 strands.
Small needles: For stitching with 1–2 strands.
Throughout this guide, I’ll refer to these needle sizes so you can follow along easily. You can get these needle packs from my shop:
Embroidery Threads
For this project, I used Anchor 6-stranded cotton threads. They’re my favourite brand because of their vibrant colours and durability. I chose these shades from my own thread stash, but feel free to raid your own and pick colours that match your vision for your blackbird!
I started by selecting the main body colours. I wanted an ombre effect in violet tones for my blackbird, so I picked one violet thread I loved and then selected adjacent shades to create a seamless blend from dark violet to light.
Here’s the full list of 13 colours I used for this embroidery:
Anchor threads are numbered for easy identification, so if you’d like to match these colours exactly, look for these numbers. And remember, this is your project—have fun experimenting with colours that inspire you!
Scissors
Any sharp scissors will do the job, but embroidery scissors are ideal. Their small, pointed blades make it easy to trim threads cleanly and reach tight spaces without fraying the ends. If you don’t have embroidery scissors, small sharp scissors from your sewing kit work just as well.
Watercolour Paints
For this project, I used a palette of watercolour paint blocks I purchased from my local craft shop. It contains a lovely selection of colours to choose from, perfect for blending the shades for the blackbird scene. You can use any watercolour paints you prefer, whether blocks, tubes, or pencils—just have fun with your colour choices and mix them to create the effect you want!
Paintbrushes
I used two sizes of brush for this project: a larger round brush for the sky and the leaves, and a smaller one for the branch. You don’t need to use the exact same sizes—feel free to choose brushes that suit your style or what you have on hand. A round brush is great for both broad and detailed areas, while any brush with a fine tip will be perfect for smaller elements.
2. The Stitches
Here are the stitches I used for this one:
Straight Stitch
Split Stitch
Satin Stitch
Couch Stitch
Stem Stitch
French Knots
These stitches help bring the blackbird to life with texture and detail, but you don’t have to stick to these! Feel free to mix things up and experiment with other stitches—it's a great way to add your own personal touch and give your embroidery a unique twist.
3. Painting the Background
When I tried this before (for the long-tailed tit embroidery square), I painted a more abstract background, but this time I wanted to create more of a scene. Watercolours are super simple to use and a lot of fun to play with. That said, they aren’t permanent, so they will wash out. This is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, if you’re not happy with something, you can simply wash it out or add more paint and water to change it. But on the other hand, it’s not ideal if you plan to wash your embroidery once it's finished (which is why mine will stay on the wall in its hoop).
✨A Few Watercolouring Tips:
- Protect your table with a plastic sheet (I used a bin liner).
- Wipe down the plastic sheet between each stage. Paint and water can collect, and if you don’t wipe it off, it might bleed onto the front of your fabric.
- Keep holding your embroidery hoop over the fabric to check that you’ve painted all the areas you want.
- Avoid oversaturating your paints. Too much paint can make the fabric too thick, which makes stitching difficult. Keep your paints watered down for a smoother application.
The Process:
First, I protected my table with a plastic sheet (I used a bin liner). I placed the embroidery square on top and soaked the fabric with water. I used a large paintbrush to paint water all over the embroidery square, ensuring it was wet evenly. Once the fabric was fully soaked, I started adding the watercolour paints. I used a palette of watercolour paint blocks from my local craft shop, which offered a lovely range of colours.
I painted the sky first, using a couple of different blues. I added some strokes with more concentrated paint and painted with uneven coverage to create interest. Once I was happy with the sky, I left the fabric to dry. I was a bit impatient, so I used a hairdryer to speed up the process.
Next, I painted the branch using a smaller brush. For this step, I wanted more control over where the paint went, so I didn’t soak my brush as much as I did for the sky. I painted onto dry fabric to prevent too much bleeding. In places where I accidentally wetted the brush too much, the paint bled a bit more than I intended, but I just went with it, trusting that the stitching would help pull it all together.
After I was happy with the branch, I let the fabric dry again.
Then, I painted the leaves. For this step, I used a large wet brush, as I wanted the leaves to blend together. I used two different greens and applied the paint in blobs, letting the two colours blend naturally and leaving some areas where the sky shows through.
Once everything was dry, I gave the embroidery square a good press with an iron (but no steam—steam will wash out the paint!). This softens the paint and makes the fabric easier to work with for stitching.
4. Lets Start Stitching
First, place your embroidery square into the hoop, making sure the fabric is nice and taut. I always aim for a drum-like tension because it helps keep your stitches neat and prevents any wrinkles in the fabric.
Here’s how to get that perfect tension:
Place the fabric over the inner hoop and press the outer hoop on top.
Pull the edges of the fabric outside the hoop to smooth out any bumps or wrinkles.
Tighten the screw mechanism until the hoop feels secure.
Gently pull the fabric around the edges one more time to tighten it further.
Your fabric should now feel tight, like a drum, and be ready for stitching!
💡 Tip: Keep an eye on the tension as you stitch – it can loosen with stitching. If that happens, simply tighten it back up as needed.
5. Step-by-Step Stitching Guide
The Legs
Let’s start with those cute little orange blackbird legs. I stitched 4 straight stitches for each leg and extended the top of the legs a bit into the body so I could easily over-stitch them later when I stitched the body.
Stitch – Straight Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 314
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Medium
The Wing Lines
Next, stitch the main wing line with a single row of split stitches, starting right at the end of the tail. Then, add a shorter row of split stitches for each of the smaller wing lines.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 101 – the darkest violet
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
The Chest and Back Markings
To start, I stitched a single straight stitch for each of the markings on the blackbird’s chest and back. But once I began stitching the body, I felt like they didn’t stand out as much as I wanted. So, I went back over them with a second stitch. Here are a few options for you:
✨ Stitch a single stitch and see how it looks
✨ Stitch two stitches on top of each other right away for more raised chest markings OR
✨ Use 4 strands to create thicker markings
Stitch – Small Straight Stitches
Thread colour – Anchor 101
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
The Bottom of the Belly and the Base of the Tail
Next, start filling in the blackbird’s body with split stitches. For the belly, I stitched up to where the chest markings start (since they're the same colour, stitching over them will make them disappear), and then added a small amount to the base of the tail. How much of the darkest violet you use here depends on your colour blend – I used 6 shades of violet, so I didn't want to overdo the darkest violet and run out of space later.
✨ Little Tips:
Use a fabric pen to map out where you want each violet colour to stop. That way, you’ll know how much to stitch of each colour.
Keep the stitches curved to follow the natural shape of the blackbird’s body.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 101
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
The Next Colour Band
Now, move on to the next violet shade and continue filling in the body and tail. To help the new colour blend into the darkest violet, stitch into the darkest violet stitches as you go.
I kept blending by adding a few stitches over each band until I was happy with how smoothly the transition looked.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 100
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
The Rest of the Body and Tail
Continue filling in the rest of the blackbird’s body and tail, blending each colour band one at a time. Work your way towards the head using the lightest shade of violet for the final section at the blackbirds head.
Stitch – Split Stitch
Thread colours – Anchor 99, then 98, then 97, and finally 96
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
This is where I realised that the chest markings were starting to blend in more than I wanted - so I stitched over them with an extra stitch.
The Eye
For the blackbird's eye, stitch vertical satin stitches to give it a smooth, filled-in look.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 401
Number of strands – 3
Needle size – Medium
The Pupil
To create the pupil, I stitched 2 small couch stitches over the satin stitches.
Stitch – Couch Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 2
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
Finishing the Eye
For the final touch to the eye, stitch a single row of very small stem stitches around about three-quarters of the eye to add that signature blackbird detail.
Stitch – Stem Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 314
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
The Beak
For the beak, stitch vertical satin stitches, starting at the face and working your way towards the tip.
Stitch – Satin Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 314
Number of strands – 2
Needle size – Small
The blackbird is now fully stitched! At this point, you could call it finished—but I wanted to add some extra stitching to enhance the watercoloured scene. It’s a perfect way to really make the design your own!
The Branch
Stitch a few straight stitches along the branch, adding as many or as few as you like. I used mainly Anchor 358 for mine, with a few stitches in the darker Anchor 360 for added depth.
Stitch – Straight Stitch
Thread colour – Anchor 358 and 360
Number of strands – 1
Needle size – Small
The Leaves
To finish off, add some French knot leaves to your branch. For this, I used two different shades of green and made knots in various sizes. I stitched leaves with Anchor 210 (3 strands) and created different-sized knots by using 1, 2, or 3 wraps. Then, I used Anchor 225 (6 strands) for more leaves, stitching with either 1 or 2 wraps.
The hardest part (for me) was keeping things random - random sizes, placements, and colours. It was tricky knowing when to stop, so have fun with it and add as many or as few leaves as you like! You could also experiment with other stitches to make leaves, like lazy daisies, straight stitches, or bullion knots - they’d all work beautifully here.
Stitch – French knots (with 1, 2 and 3 wraps)
Thread colour – Anchor 210 and 225
Number of strands – 3 and 6
Needle size – Medium and Large
And that’s it! The stitching for this blackbird is all done. I think he looks absolutely lovely perched on his branch, singing away 🎶
5. Finishing and Displaying your Embroidery
You can frame your finished embroidery in the same hoop you used for stitching, which is one of my favourite ways to display my embroidery projects. To do this, trim away the excess fabric, leaving about a 4 cm ring all the way around.
Next, stitch a running stitch about 1 cm from the fabric edge using 6 strands of thread, leaving unknotted tails at both the start and finish. Gently pull these tails to gather the fabric, then tie a knot to hold it in place.
I’ll show you how to do this here:
The best part about this method is that it’s not permanent! If you decide later to add more to your embroidery, you can easily remove the running stitches and continue stitching until you’re happy with the design.
You can also turn your embroidery into a cute hanging banner with one of my banner kits. This way, you can hang your beautiful embroidery anywhere in your home. These kits are designed to pair perfectly with any of my embroidery squares.
You can find the banner kits here……..
Step back and admire your beautiful stitching!
I hope you enjoyed this project! Be sure to check out my other embroidery blog posts, many of which include links to live stitching videos so you can stitch along with me. I also have 12 other embroidery square designs available in my shop, which I think you'll love for some relaxing creativity.
You can find them all here……….
And don’t forget to tag me on social media when you show off your beautiful work—I’d love to see it!
If you enjoyed this blog and would like to support my work, feel free to visit my Ko-fi and leave a tip - every little bit helps keep the creativity flowing! 🌸
Enjoy your stitching!
Until next time,
Liz x