Close photo of a cross-stitch style rose tattoo in pink, peach and green on the outer thigh, with a grey knit skirt above.

Enlarged with AI from a smaller original

Cross-stitch rose on a thigh

Botanical · Thigh · Colour · Photo

The tattoo shows a large rose and its leaves, built from small X-shaped stitches as if embroidered on fabric. The rose uses soft pink, peach and coral tones, while the leaves and stems are in several shades of green. The rose sits across the upper thigh, with the grey knit fabric of a skirt cropping the top of the frame.

Botanical Thigh Rose Leaves Flower

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Take it to an artist as a reference. A good artist will make it yours rather than copy someone else's tattoo.

A story inspired by this tattoo · fiction

Dear Nell, the oven was still ticking when I finished the last tray, so forgive the smudge on this page. It's flour, not tears. Mr Okonedo's van was late again, and I stood in the yard at four with the rye loaves cooling on the rack, counting crosses in my head the way Mum taught us. One stitch over, one across, and never pull the thread tight or the cloth puckers.

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I found her pattern book in the drawer under the proving cabinet. Someone, Mum or maybe Gran, had sketched a rose in biro on squared paper, every square a stitch. Peach at the centre, coral at the edges, three greens for the leaves, and at the bottom in her slanted hand: 'Don't rush the petals.' I've pinned it above the sink beside the rota, and the girls keep asking who drew the flower.

This morning Sunil caught me smiling at the dough and asked what was so funny. I told him I was counting. He thought I meant the loaves, which I suppose I did, forty-two of them, and I let him think it. By six the window had gone from black to the colour of weak tea, and I could see my own reflection in it, floury hands and all, working through the rows the way she would have.

I'm posting the pattern book second class, along with the grey cardigan she wore to the market every Saturday. Stitch the rose yourself, badly if you must. Start from the middle, and don't pull the thread too tight.