Home & garden embroidery designs
Wooden spoons and teapots for the kitchen, little houses and keys for a new home, watering cans and birdhouses for the garden, hammers and toolboxes for the workshop: these home & garden embroidery designs decorate the things you use every day. Free and premium files are ready in PES, DST, JEF, VP3 and four other machine formats.
Wash and dry new kitchen towels and linens before you stitch, so the cotton does not shrink and pucker around the design later.
5 designs
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Four rooms of motifs
Kitchen designs bring wooden spoons, whisks, pots and kettles to dish towels, aprons and oven mitts. House and home motifs cover little houses, front doors, keys and cozy sayings for housewarming gifts. Gardening designs show watering cans, seed packets and birdhouses, and the tool and DIY designs gather hammers, wrenches, saws and toolboxes for the workshop.
All of these home and garden embroidery designs share warm colors and a dark outline, so a teapot on a towel and a birdhouse on an apron look like one matching set.
Stabilizers for towels, aprons and pillows
- Flour-sack dish towels: the fabric is thin and loosely woven, so a mesh cut-away is safest; hoop the towel firmly but do not stretch it.
- Terry hand towels: lay a water-soluble topping over the loops so the stitches stay on top, with a tear-away below.
- Canvas and denim aprons: a tear-away stabilizer and a sharp 75/11 needle.
- Linen pillow covers and napkins: a cut-away under loose weaves, a tear-away under tight ones.
Bulky items such as a finished apron or a quilted pot holder are easier to float on a hooped adhesive stabilizer than to clamp between the hoop rings.
Sizes and placement
On a pot holder or a napkin corner, the 70 mm size keeps the motif in proportion, while an apron bib or a 16-inch pillow front takes the 125 mm version and a 5x7 hoop. Place napkin motifs on the diagonal in one corner, a little in from both hems, so they show when the napkin is folded. On an apron, center the motif on the bib rather than on the pocket, which bulges when it is full.
Gifts through the year
Embroidered dish towels are classic host gifts for the holiday season, and a set stitched in October is ready in time. A housewarming basket can hold a towel with a key motif and a pillow cover with a little house. Gardeners like a seed-packet apron in early spring, and a toolbox on a shop apron works for Father's Day in your country.
For flowers, leaves and trees to stitch beside these, browse the flower and plant designs.
Frequently asked questions
Which thread is best for kitchen towels, aprons and other home linens?
Polyester embroidery thread in 40 wt, for anything washed often or hot. It is colorfast and bleach-resistant, so a red teapot stays red on a white dish towel. Rayon has a higher sheen and suits pillows or framed pieces that are rarely washed, and in the bobbin a 60 to 90 wt thread keeps the back flat.
Can I personalize a home design with a family name or a date?
Yes. Make the name, initials or date in the monogram maker, then stitch it below a little house or under a kitchen motif in the same hooping. For a housewarming gift, the family name and the year they moved in, set under a house, is a classic choice.
Can I sell embroidered kitchen towels and aprons made with these designs?
You can, as long as your plan includes a commercial license. Free designs come with a personal-use license, which does not cover stitched items you sell at markets, craft fairs or in an online shop. Before your first market day, read the license page to see what a commercial plan covers for towels, aprons and other home goods.