Wildflowers of Hepburn by Alison Cole

Alison Cole is well known for her stunning stumpwork studies of wildflowers, many of which grow around her home in Victoria, Australia. Each project she has designed is more lifelike than the last, so it really was only a matter of time before Alison succeeded in lifting her stitched flowers out of the frame and constructing them completely in three dimensions.

Wildflowers of Hepburn, from our brand-new book A Passion for Needlework 4 | The Whitehouse Daylesford, is a project that has done just that. 

Rather than picking a bouquet of wildflowers for a vase, knowing they will very quickly fade, with Wildflowers of Hepburn, you can enjoy a brilliantly coloured re-creation that will remain as fresh and beautiful in years to come as they did on the first day you placed them on your mantlepiece.

Alison has selected four delicate wildflowers for her bouquet. The beautiful yellow petals of the Bulbine Lily, or native leek, contrast delightfully with the purple-blue colour of the Slender Blue Sun Orchid. Of a similar colour, but with a completely different shape is the cluster of Native Flax. 

What makes Alison’s selection all the more amazing is that Daylesford forms part of the Hepburn Shire, so the flowers she created with needle and thread are indeed native to the very location A Passion for Needlework 4 was photographed.

Finally, to set the other three flowers off, Alison has included the Salmon Pink Sun Orchid, which is a bloom of bright, rosy pink growing on a long stem.

All four flowers are native to Australia with the Slender Blue Sun Orchid also thriving in New Zealand. Although these flowers are relatively widespread across the country, most people appreciate the beauty of them growing in the ground so no longer pick them. This stunning project allows you to now enjoy these subtle and delicate blooms indoors, with the finished piece looking as much like the real thing as you could possibly imagine.

Three-dimensional embroidery means that every element you stitch is a detached element. Rather than placing them on a piece of fabric to highlight other raised or surface elements, with this technique, the construction is all done in three dimensions. 

This means you can place your petals and adjust them so that they look as much like real flowers as possible. 

Alison uses the finest silks to create her wildflowers to ensure that the finish is exquisite.

Each petal and leaf is stitched with the tiniest of blanket stitch edging to allow for easy cutting, and coloured with perfect long and short stitch to achieve the exact shading that you would see on the actual flower. 

Thanks to her careful observation of the many wildflowers she finds in her gardens and surrounds, Alison has determined the precise colour and shape of each flower, including cleverly constructing the buds, columns and sheaths of each bloom.

There are some beautifully fine details involved that will bring amazement and delight as you stitch the pieces and put them together, knowing you have created a perfect flower with needle and thread.

We know that everyone is going to love creating this gorgeous bouquet, and we are confident that the exclamations of surprise from friends and family when they realise that these aren’t actually real flowers are going to be abundant.

With Wildflowers of Hepburn, you can truly bring nature into you home to enjoy for years to come.

Step 1 – Purchase Project Instructions

Wildflowers of Hepburn by Alison Cole is a stunning three-dimensional recreation of native flowers that grow near Daylesford.

Step 2 – Purchase Ready-To-Stitch Kit

The Inspirations Ready-To-Stitch kit for Wildflowers of Hepburn includes everything* you need to re-create this beautiful bouquet: Fabrics, wool felts, ribbon, wires, embroidery threads and needle.

*Please Note: To cater for flexibility of purchase, instructions are not included with our kits. For step-by-step directions on how to create this project, please refer to the book.