Embroidered Heart

Right on time for Valentine's Day!  Just for you - here is a big hunk of love from me to you!

I don't get into the whole lovey-dovey thing for Valentine's Day - my husband and I do little things every day, all year long, for each other that go beyond a commercial holiday.  So that's not why I love Valentine's Day.  I love it because it's fun, whimsical, bright, and makes winter a little more pleasant!  I love me a good, simple, beautiful piece of decor, too.

Is anything better than something you made with your own hands?!  

I think not.  

Don't stress out about this one - you can do this.  Practice your stitches with some felt or something and then move on to a piece of linen like this.

This sweet little heart is basically several rows of different border stitches repeated.  

I used DMC floss #712 and a piece of tan, earthy linen.

This would also be so pretty with soft pinks, bright raspberries, rich purples or even some gray.  hmmmm....

For you newbies, I have a stitch guide HERE with most of the basic stitches.  I've included a couple in this post that aren't on the guide....yet.

To start you need:

Embroidery hoop

Floss (cream color is DMC 712)

Needle

Scissors

Fabric marker

Heart outline - on cardstock if possible

(Here's one from the internet I found. Just save it and open it in a document and stretch it to your desired size)

Trace your heart using a disappearing or washable fabric marker.  Make sure you trace BEFORE you stretch your fabric onto the hoop.

Attach the hoop gently - you don't need to get the fabric too tight.  With the stretching, the image will distort a little bit and that's totally okay.  As long as your lines are there, your image will turn out fine.  Just try to adjust it a little bit so that it looks as normal as possible with the heart outline as your guide.

Now you're ready to go!  Put in a good movie or some relaxing music, and stitch away!!

Start off with a knot - see the stitch guide above for the easy knot tutorial.  I LOVE it!

FOR MY SAMPLE:

Here's what I did:
{one strand of DMC floss has six tiny strands within--I used all six strands in all of my rows with the exception of the leaves around the stem.  I only used three strands out of the six.}

 1.) split stitch as my anchor row - the first one I did
2.) scallops around the split stitch
3.) Straight stitch or running stitch
4.) French knots
5.) stem stitch
6.) leaves around stem stitch with lazy daisy (scallop stitch but skinnier)
using only 3 strands of the floss instead of six
7.) back stitch
8.) split stitch right up against the back stitch
9.) French knots

FEEL FREE TO USE YOUR MARKER AND TRACE ALONG THE MIDDLE AS YOU START EACH NEW ROW.  You can easily freehand more hearts inside your original heart just to keep your rows straight and on-track.  I had to pick out an entire row because I was off just a little bit.  That wasn't fun.


Here are a couple of stitches not on my guide.  The only one missing is the stem stitch.  If I get some time later on, I can show you how to do that one. Otherwise, here is a great diagram of the stem stitch

{SPLIT STITCH} 

come up from the bottom, go down through the top 

Come right back up through the middle of the stitch.  Try to come right between the threads, too - it's easy to catch the threads unevenly.  Repeat over and over again and you'll get a nice, pretty row of stitches.

{SCALLOP STITCH}

Up from the bottom, down again, making a loop...pull gently until you get the size you want

Come up at the underside of the loop and go back down just above the outside of the loop, securing it down with just a tiny stitch.

{STRAIGHT STITCH} 

this is in my guide, but I called it a 'running' stitch.

Easy...needs no explanation.  Up from the bottom, and in and out of the fabric in even stitches.  Try to keep them the same size.

You can either frame this in something sweet and simple, or leave it on the hoop and fabric glue the hoop to your creation.  I think either option is pretty.

Enjoy!!!  

Don't forget that I want to see your creations!!!  Email me and let me know if you need some help or have questions!

Love to all of you!!