Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – July, August, September

Earlier this year, I bought a box of 12 mini cross stitch kits – one for each month of the year – all with botanical designs, inspired by the plant collection of the Royal Horticultural Society. I had seen that set in various shops, usually priced around £20, which – in my opinion – is quite a lot for a cross stitch set, even one with several designs. But one day, I found that same set in TKMaxx, for just £9.99. Now that’s a bargain! I decided to complete each design in its designated month. I already shared the completed mini projects for the previous quarter. Today, I’m bringing you the next trio: designs for July, August and September. I enjoyed cross stitching the rose, sunflower and dahlia and I think they all turned out pretty cute!

Contents of the kits

The box included 12 mini cross stitch kits, one for each month of the year. Each design comes in its own little envelope. Inside, there’s a small piece of blank fabric, a needle, thread in assorted colours and a leaflet with the pattern. There is no embroidery hoop included in the box, and the pieces of fabric are too small to fit on embroidery hoops that I already own. It’s always a bit of an adjustment when I need to cross stitch without a hoop, but with such small aidas, it’s not too hard.

A box with 12 floral cross stitch kits, one per each month of the year — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS

Contents of a mini cross stitch kit for sewing a sunflower design — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Sunflower

July – sunflower

The design that RHS chose for July featured a sunflower. I started cross stitching from the middle of the pattern, to put down a foundation for the flower.

The first sewn cross stitches for a sunflower flower design — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Sunflower

Next, I added the brown parts of the centre of the flower and started sewing the yellow petals. The sunflower design was starting to come to life.

Partly completed cross stitched mini sunflower flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Sunflower

Then, I added the lighter yellow highlights on the petals. It may not look like a sunflower yet, but trust the process!

Nearly completed cross stitched mini sunflower flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Sunflower

Finally, I added the remaining yellow parts of the petals. Then, it was time for the most difficult part, in my eyes – adding an outline with backstitches.

I always find it difficult to follow the pattern when it comes to simple stitches. Finding the exact place where the lines start and finish can be tricky. In this case, I managed to follow the instructions quite accurately. The outline definitely added dimension to the design. Overall, the final result turned out pretty cute, if you ask me!

Completed cross stitched mini sunflower flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Sunflower

August – Rose

For August’s design, RHS picked a classic rose. I was looking forward to sewing it! I could see from the start that the pattern didn’t require sewing any outline with backstitches, which was good news to me.

After sewing the first two colours, it looked like most of the rose was completed. The two colours were very close, but I can see the slight difference in the photo.

Nearly completed cross stitched mini rose flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Rose

Next, I added the light pink highlights and dark red shadows. Although both colours were only used for a small number of stitches, they added a lot of dimension to the design.

Finally, it was time to sew the leaves in three shades of green yarn. The contrast between the red flower and green leaves brought a lot of life to the design. It turned out really pretty, I love this design!

Completed mini cross stitched rose flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Rose

September – Dahlia

The kit for September featured a dahlia. I immediately noticed that most of the threads included in the kit were very similar in colour. In the photo below, you can see the progress after sewing the first two colours. Can you even tell that there are two distinct colours there?

The first sewn cross stitches for a dahlia flower design — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Dahlia

Next, I added two more colours. Sewing this design was really tricky, as all of the threads looked quite similar. I mainly worked on this design in daylight hours, as the lights in my home made all of the colours look exactly the same, and it made reading the pattern more difficult.

Nearly completed cross stitched mini dahlia flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Dahlia

Finally, all of the crosses were completed. At that point, I wasn’t too pleased with the design, to be honest! It required a lot of work and attention, and I thought the result looked like a big blob of red thread. But, there was one more step left.

The dahlia design included detailed outline to be done with backstitches. As I mentioned before, I always find it tricky to follow the pattern when it comes to outlines. This design was particularly difficult to read, as the whole pattern was basically the same colour. I tried my best to stay accurate, but had to improvise in a couple of places. It cost me a lot of effort to add all of the outline, but I was astonished with the final result. The design went from being a blob of red crosses, to the most realistic-looking flower I ever cross stitched. It may be my favourite pattern from the RHS set so far! I think it lacks a leaf in vibrant green for a touch of contrast, but overall, it turned out great.

Completed cross stitched mini dahlia flower — Mini Botanical Cross Stitch Designs – RHS – Dahlia

Final thoughts

With these three flowers, I’m now halfway through the RHS botanical cross stitch set. The cross stitched rose, sunflower and dahlia look really cute side by side! The next quarter is about to start, and I’m looking forward to cross stitching the next three mini botanical designs. I would recommend the RHS set with 12 botanical designs as a gift idea for a crafty adult. Especially if you can find it on sale!