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Ahhhh…. Mardi Gras – what a holiday! A time to party before the six long weeks of Lent leading up to Easter. It’s also a celebration stitched together with color, culture, and creativity. And, there’s no better way to bring that spirit to life than through embroidery – especially when you can grab your Mardi Gras embroidery designs for free!

Products mentioned in this post

• Women’s Sweatshirt
• Women’s Long Sleeve T-shirt
• T-shirt
• Tote bag
• Dinner napkins
• Baby onesie
• Table runner
• Baseball cap
• Pillow shams
• Placemats.

What are Mardi Gras Embroidery Designs?

Mardi Gras embroidery designs are inspired by the symbols, colors, and traditions of the Mardi Gras celebration. These designs often feature classic elements such as masks, beads, fleur-de-lis, crowns, jesters, and festive phrases, stitched in the traditional purple, green, and gold color palette.

Mardi Gras machine embroidery designs allow you to add a celebratory, New Orleans–inspired touch to clothing, accessories, home décor, and gifts. They capture the fun, energy, and cultural heritage of Mardi Gras through detailed stitching and bold, festive imagery.

Where can you find free Mardi Gras Embroidery Designs

All. Over. the. Internet. Many websites that sell embroidery designs also offer a few for free to give potential customers a taste of their quality or to provide a bit of incentive to hand over your email address.

Actually some sites have hundreds of free embroidery designs. The problem is – it takes quite a bit of digging to sort through all the offerings to find exactly what you want. Often times – they are not indexed in their search results so you can’t just search for the free design you are looking for – you have to click through several pages of designs to possilby find one that suits your needs.

What are the limitations of free Mardi Gras Embroidery Designs?

When it comes to free embroidery designs, you sometimes get what you pay for. Because a site is giving a design away for free – it may not be of the highest quality. This is why it’s important to always test stitch out the design before stitching it on your final project.

Other restrictions may include limited sizes and/or formats, an omission of any color charts or directions, and lack of support from the company that is providing the design.

Ok – but with all that said…free is free, right? So let’s start downloading some of these freebies – and – as they say in New Orleans – “let the good times roll!”

FREE Mardi Gras Embroidery Designs

Masks

Masks are a powerful symbol of Mardi Gras because they represent freedom, mystery, and the breaking down of social boundaries during the celebration. Historically, masks allowed people of different classes and backgrounds to mingle freely, hiding their identities so everyone could participate equally in the festivities. Over time, they became an essential part of Mardi Gras traditions, symbolizing anonymity, transformation, and indulgence.

Today, ornate and colorful masks reflect the playful spirit of Mardi Gras, encouraging self-expression, creativity, and a sense of escape from everyday life while honoring the celebration’s rich cultural roots.

There are a few different styles of Mardi Gras mask embroidery desings that are freely available on different websites. Here are my favorites.

Fierce colorful mask

There’s something about this fierce mardi gras mask design that looks so fierce and exotic. I think it would look amazing stitched out on a simple sweatshirt or long sleeve t.

Cute mask with swirls

While I believe this mask with swirls embroidery design was intended for a birthday girl, it also works as a mardi gras mask! It’s all about just stitching it out in green, purple and gold.

Masquerading duo

This masquerading duo embroidery design is full of Mardi Gras spirit, featuring a couple wearing festive masks and other playful details. It’s perfect for adding a little mystery and celebration to your Mardi Gras project. Note that this design is just provided in PES format since it’s on the Brother website but you can easily convert it into another format.

Guess who?

Two reflected elegant, mysterious masquerade masks that frame “guess who.” This guess who design is perfect for your Mardi Gras sweatshirt.

Crowns

Crowns are a Mardi Gras symbol because the celebration is all about royalty and fantasy. From kings and queens of the krewes to the King of Carnival, Mardi Gras lets everyone feel a little regal and larger than life.

They also represent celebration and tradition, capturing the pride, joy, and playful spirit of Carnival—where everyone gets a chance to rule, even if just for the day.

There are A LOT of free crown embroidery designs available suitable for a variety of projects.

Mardi Gras Royalty with Fleur de Lis

This design features a trio of fleur-de-lis with crowns and the phrase “Mardi Gras Royalty” – a cute design to show off your Mardi Gras spirit on a t-shirt or tote bag.

Tiny Crown

This tiny crown embroidery design is perfect for adding a little Mardi Gras detail to dinner napkins or even a baby onesie.

King’s Crown

Looking for a more substantial crown embroidery design for your Mardi Gras gear? Check out this Filled golden crown: https://www.creativefabrica.com/product/kings-golden-crown/” rel=”sponsored nofollow”>freebie simple and versatile filled crown.

Casual Crown

Creative Fabrica also has a more casual filled crown embroidery design available for free on their website. If you are not into the fussiness but want to project straight up royalty – this free design may just be your jam.

Crown with Flourish Border

If you are looking for a crown with a little more adornment, this small, elegant crown with a border detail is the design for you. It could be used on just about anything to provide a bit of Mardi Gras flair.

Monogram Frame with Crown on Top

This floral monogram frame embroidery design features elegant blooms surrounding a classic frame, topped with a regal crown for a touch of royalty. Perfect for personalizing a Mardi Gras table runner.

Crown with Laurel Wreath Monogram Frame

A classic, regal crown with elegant curves and points surrounded with a laurel wreath. This is a perfect enhancement to your Mardi Gras clothing, accessories and home decor.

Crown with a Bow and Mardi Gras Beads Monogram Frame

Now here’s a crown embroidery design with a real Mardi Gras flair. The delicate bead style frame with a crown on top is designed to surround a fancy monogram. Any clothing or accessory with this design will be fit for a true Mardi Gras queen!

Crown on Coach Monogram Frame

If you’re looking for a crown monogram frame that’s a bit more mature – maybe this one will do the trick. No bows and just subtle beads on this one. This monogram frame that looks like a coach with a crown on top.

Jesters

Jesters are a Mardi Gras symbol because they embody the spirit of reversal, satire, and playful chaos that defines the celebration. Historically tied to medieval court fools, jesters were figures who could mock authority, blur social boundaries, and speak freely under the cover of humor.

Mardi Gras similarly turns the social order upside down, allowing people to wear masks, assume new identities, and indulge before the solemn season of Lent begins. In New Orleans and other Mardi Gras traditions, the jester’s costume—often featuring bells, bold colors, and exaggerated expressions—reflects the festival’s emphasis on spectacle, mischief, and joyful excess. As a result, the jester has become a fitting emblem of Mardi Gras’s themes of freedom, humor, and temporary escape from everyday rules.

Mysterious Jester

This mysterious little jester definitely brings out the dark side of Mardi Gras. If your looking for an edgier Mardi Gras look – definitely stitch this one out.

Peace and Jesters

If you are looking for a jester design that’s a bit lighter – check out this jester hat with peace sign appliqué. It’s a fun combination of two symbols. You could also easily extract the jester hat from the design if you wanted it by itself.

Fleur de lis

The fleur-de-lis is a Mardi Gras symbol because of the holiday’s strong French roots. Mardi Gras literally means “Fat Tuesday” in French, and the tradition came to Louisiana with French settlers. The fleur-de-lis was a well-known symbol of France, so it naturally became linked to the celebration.

Over time, it also came to represent New Orleans itself and its unique culture. Today, you see the fleur-de-lis everywhere during Mardi Gras as a nod to the city’s history and its love of celebrating.

Simple fleur de lis outline

A simple fleur-de-lis outline embroidery design with clean lines and an elegant, classic shape. Its minimal style makes it quick to stitch and perfect for adding a subtle decorative touch to any project.

Filled fleur de lis design

Prefer a simple filled fleur de lis instead? This classic version could be stitched on anything from a baseball cap or a subtle adornment on a t-shirt .

Ultra simple filled fleur de lis design

If the previous filled fleur de lis wasn’t basic enough, perhaps this one is more suitable. Here’s a free, simple, straight forward filled fleur de lis design.

Fleur-de-lis appliqué

Yes – you can even get a free applliqué fleur-de-lis embroidery design. And this one is pretty cool. It actually comes with three different appliqué finishes.

Elegant fleur-de-lis

Here’s another fancier style of fleur-de-lis that’s available gratis! The elongated style and shading makes it suitable for fancy home goods like pillow shams or placemats.

Beads

Beads are a must-have at Mardi Gras because they turn the whole celebration into a colorful, playful party. As floats roll by, riders toss shiny strings of beads into the cheering crowd, and suddenly everyone is laughing, reaching, and celebrating together. The bold purple, green, and gold beads sparkle in the air, making the streets feel alive with music, movement, and excitement. Catching beads feels like winning a tiny prize, and wearing them shows you’re part of the fun. More than just decorations, Mardi Gras beads capture the carefree spirit, friendly chaos, and joyful energy that make the festival unforgettable.

Show your love for Mardi Gras beads by stitching out these fun freebies that represent this fun and iconic symbol of Mardi Gras.

Heart with beads

This heart with beads embroidery design is both sweet and playful. With the elaborate bead detail within the design – it’s a super sweet and festive nod to the celebration.

Quatrefoil bead frame

Add some Mardi Gras spirit to any monogram by surrounding it with this lovely bead frame in the shape of a quatrefoil. Parfait!

Ready to stitch out some free Mardi Gras Designs?

I hope that you are feeling inspired to do some Mardi Gras stitching. As you can see – there is quite the treasure trove of freebies available. From vibrant purples, greens, and golds to iconic masks, beads, and fleur-de-lis, these free Mardi Gras designs will instantly add festivity and flair to any project. So, whether you’re decorating table linens, customizing apparel, or creating gifts for parade season, start downloading these freebies to make your creative vision come to life.

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