Avlea Folk Embroidery Byzantine Rose Border - Downloadable PDF

Avlea Folk Embroidery Byzantine Rose Border – Pattern Summary

About This Embroidery Pattern

The Avlea Folk Embroidery Byzantine Rose Border is a downloadable PDF embroidery pattern designed by Krista West of Avlea Folk Embroidery. Rooted in the rich artistic traditions of Byzantium, this design masterfully combines geometric and floral elements into a striking border composition. The pattern is rated as beginner difficulty, making it an accessible introduction to counted thread folk embroidery while still producing a sophisticated, heirloom-quality result.

What Is Being Made

This pattern is designed to create a decorative embroidered table setting piece, specifically a square table linen or napkin. The finished embroidery measures 17-1/2 inches square in the smaller version, while the larger version finishes at 36 x 36 inches, making it suitable as a tablecloth or centerpiece cloth. The design features:

• Octagonal frames enclosing stylized Byzantine roses
• A stylized meander border that bands the octagons, creating intricate geometric rhythm
• Optional stylized birds that can be incorporated for added decorative detail

The pattern is easy to repeat, allowing the embroiderer to scale the design or adapt it to different fabric sizes with confidence.

Design Colorways

The Byzantine Rose Border pattern is offered in two distinct colorways, both shown in the pattern photos:

• Red, Black, and Green colorway: Uses DMC 310 black, DMC 355 red, and DMC 3012 green, stitched on Legacy Linen "Sunflower" fabric. This version finishes at 36 x 36 inches, requiring a fabric piece of 39 x 39 inches to allow for the hem.
• Red, Gold, and Grey colorway: Uses DMC 729 antique gold, DMC 355 red, and DMC 317 pewter gray, stitched on Legacy Linen "Coconut" fabric. This version finishes at 17-1/2 x 17-1/2 inches, requiring a fabric piece of 21 x 21 inches to allow for a drawn thread hem.

Both colorways reflect the warm, jewel-toned palette characteristic of Mediterranean folk embroidery traditions, and either can be adapted to the embroiderer's personal preference.

Techniques Used

This pattern uses counted thread embroidery, a traditional technique in which stitches are placed by counting the threads of an even-weave fabric rather than following a printed or transferred design. This method ensures precise, symmetrical results and is central to many European and Mediterranean folk embroidery traditions. The geometric nature of the Byzantine Rose Border is particularly well-suited to counted thread work, as the octagonal frames and meander borders rely on exact stitch placement for their visual impact.

The pattern also incorporates a drawn thread hem finish, a classic needlework technique in which threads are carefully withdrawn from the fabric to create a decorative, open hemstitched border — a hallmark of fine table linens.

Stitches Used

As a counted thread embroidery pattern in the Avlea Folk Embroidery style, the design employs stitches typical of this Mediterranean folk tradition. While the PDF does not enumerate every stitch by name, counted thread folk embroidery of this type commonly incorporates:

• Cross stitch – for filling geometric and floral motifs
• Running stitch or double running stitch (Holbein stitch) – frequently used in folk embroidery to outline geometric meander and border designs with clean, reversible lines
• Hemstitch – used in conjunction with the drawn thread hem technique for finishing the fabric edges

Materials Required