Anchor Fly Free - 0022500-00001-10 - Downloadable PDF

Fly Free Embroidery Pattern by Aurora Menendez – Anchor Downloadable PDF

Fly Free is a freestyle embroidery design created by Aurora Menendez and published by Anchor (Design No. 0022500-00001-10). This charming and cheerful embroidery piece features a central swallow motif surrounded by decorative folk-style flowers, combining cooler tones in the bird with a warm, vibrant colour palette in the floral elements. The contrast between these two colour schemes gives the finished piece a lively, eye-catching quality that makes it suitable for framing, hoop display, or use as a decorative textile accent.

This is a free downloadable PDF pattern, making it an accessible starting point for embroiderers who want to explore freestyle and painterly hand embroidery techniques. The pattern is rated intermediate in difficulty, meaning it is best suited to stitchers who already have a basic understanding of hand embroidery and are ready to develop their skills with more nuanced and blended stitch work.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a framed or hoop-mounted freestyle embroidery picture depicting a swallow as the central focal point, encircled by folk-inspired floral motifs. The design draws on a rich tradition of decorative needlework, blending naturalistic bird illustration with stylised floral folk art. The warm tones of the flowers are intentionally chosen to contrast with the cooler blues and greys typically associated with a swallow's plumage, creating visual depth and balance across the composition.

Embroidery Techniques Used

• Long and short stitch – The primary technique used to embroider the swallow. This classic freestyle embroidery method involves alternating rows of longer and shorter stitches that interlock to blend colours smoothly, mimicking the gradual tonal transitions seen in painted or photographic imagery. It is particularly well suited to rendering feathers, fur, and other organic textures.
• Freestyle embroidery – The overall approach of the design, which allows the embroiderer creative flexibility in how stitches are applied, rather than following a counted grid. Freestyle embroidery is worked directly onto fabric using a transferred or traced design as a guide.
• Mixed stitch techniques – Aurora Menendez notes the use of different types of stitches throughout the design to add texture and visual interest, particularly in the folk-style floral elements surrounding the swallow.

Stitches Used

• Long and short stitch – Used extensively for the swallow, this stitch is the foundation of needle painting and shaded embroidery. It creates a smooth, blended surface ideal for depicting realistic or semi-realistic subjects.
• Various decorative stitches – Additional stitch types are employed across the floral folk motifs to build texture and dimension throughout the composition, as referenced in the designer's notes within the pattern.

Materials Required

The pattern calls for Anchor Stranded Cotton (Art. No. 4635000), a 6-strand divisible embroidery thread available in 10-metre skeins. The ability to separate the thread into individual strands allows the embroiderer to vary the weight and coverage of each stitch — finer strands for delicate shading and blending, thicker combinations for bolder coverage. This versatility is central to achieving the textured, layered look of the finished design.

The following Anchor Stranded Cotton colours are specified in the pattern:

• 1 skein each of: #0889, #0267, #0265, #0266, #0264, #0341, #0387, #1035, #1034, #0152, #1004, #1003, #1002, #1010, #0874

This palette of 15 colours spans the cooler shades used in the swallow and the warmer tones used in the surrounding floral folk motifs, providing the full tonal range needed to achieve the design's characteristic contrast and depth.

Needles

• Embroidery needle No. 9 – A finer needle suitable for working with fewer strands of thread and achieving detailed, precise stitching.
• Embroidery needle No. 5 – A slightly larger needle appropriate for working with more strands simultaneously, useful for broader coverage