I love the beautiful weather and spending time outside. Creating all sorts of botanical-themed embroidery patterns became my way of coping with the grumpy weather we have here in Northern Ireland. Recently I’ve been playing around with some old doodles and created the Love embroidery pattern to brighten up my home.
Let me show you how I embroidered this adorable pattern using just a few basic stitches. This is a fun and easy to stitch pattern, great for beginners!
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Watch Video Tutorial
PROJECT SIZE: 11cm x 7.5cm (4.3 x 3in)
STITCHES USED: Long and short stitch, padded satin stitch
The Love pattern is a fun project that you can stitch even if you never threaded a needle before. You’ll only need a few supplies and it doesn’t take too much time to stitch eighter. Once embroidered, you can frame it, you can use a mini easel for display, or you can hang the hoop decoration in any room of your home.
Tools and Materials
If you’re looking for a good magnifying lamp, check out my article on best magnifying lamps for hand embroidery to learn the different types of lamps and find out which one is the best for your needs.
Preparing the Fabric
Before tracing the pattern cut your fabric into a 10inch (25cm) square. I normally wash and iron it to remove any creases, without using the steam function.
1. Cut your fabric into a 10inch (25cm) square
2. Iron your fabric to remove any creases
If you like to create zig-zagged margins to your fabric you can use a Dressmaking Zig Zag Scissors. Just use the zig-zag scissors when you’re you would normally cut out your fabric.
3. Create zig-zagged margins for your fabric
4. Use Zig Zag Scissors when cutting your fabric
Download the Love Embroidery Pattern
Download the Love embroidery pattern from my Free Pattern Library. To get access to the Free Pattern Library fill out the form below and I will send you an email with your password. You can read more about my Free Pattern Library here.
Once you have downloaded the pattern, print the Cut and Trace file on A4 paper.
The pattern you have downloaded is full size, so when printed on the A4 paper will have the exact size to fit into a 6inch hoop. You just need to have the Fill Entire Paper option selected.
Note: If you do not own a printer, you can just trace the pattern on A4 paper, then trace it onto your fabric using one of the methods explained below.
Transferring the Pattern onto the Fabric
My favorite method for tracing patterns onto fabric is by hand, using a Lightbox under the fabric and the pattern design. I find this as the fastest manual tracing method.
To transfer the Love pattern manually using a lightbox, you can use this simple method:
1. Trace the pattern using Staedtler Pigment Liner 003 or any erasable or washable tracing pen. I prefer using the Staedtler Pigment Liner 003 because it has an incredibly fine tip.
Although it’s not washable, the tip is so fine that you won’t see it anyway after you stitch on top of it. The finer the tip, the better! This way your traced lines will be thin enough and completely covered by the stitches later on.
2. Continue tracing until you copied the entire daisies pattern onto your fabric.
Color Palette and Thread List
This pattern can be stitched in any color palette you can imagine. You can follow the guide below if you wish to stitch it in a beautiful botanical-themed outcome, or you can create monochromatic versions of it.
Tip: The monochromatic versions look really good when combined with the colored background fabric.
For the entire work, I used DMC stranded cotton. It’s your choice if you prefer one brand over another, both DMC and Anchor manufacturers offer good-quality stranded cotton in a wide variety of colors. If your brand of choice is DMC, please use the thread colors below. I also included a conversion chart DMC to Anchor and DMC to HEX RGB (in case you decide to use the pattern for digital display works).
NOTE: Please bear in mind that a perfect color match between brands is not really possible.
The Love pattern was stitched with two strands of thread. Use this simple method to separate the thread:
The stranded cotton embroidery thread is made up of 6 strands. For a finer delicate outcome, you need to split the thread and use just two strands for the entire work.
In order to separate your thread, pull out and cut about 30-40cm length of thread from the skein, more or less the distance between your fingers and your elbow. Separate two strands and thread your needle. Use a needle size 5-7.
1. Cut about 30-40cm of thread
2. Separate two strands
3. Pull the separated strands while holding firmly the rest
4. Thread your needle (size 5-7)
Stitching the Pattern
Since there are no overlapping shapes in the design there isn’t really a specific order of work. You can work your way around as you please. As a recommendation, you could start by creating the hands/outlines first, as this will work as a frame for all the small botanical elements.
For the entire work use just two strands of thread unless stated otherwise.
OUTLINES: Outline the hands with Back Stitch using DMC 934
NAILS: Fill the nails with Satin Stitch using DMC 934
BOTANICAL ELEMENTS: Fill the botanical elements with Satin Stitch alternating between the shades of green using DMC 3346, DMC 3347, DMC 3348.
1. Start by outlining the hands with Back Stitch using DMC 934. In order to create a continuous line, ensure you’re not leaving any gaps in between the stitches.
2. Before filling the nails with Satin Stitch, first outline with Back Stitch, this will define better the edges.
3. Continue outlining the nail with Back Stitch using DMC 934
4. Fill the nail with Satin Stitch using DMC 934
5. Follow the same process when filling the rest of the botanical elements. Outline first with Back Stitch.
6. Then fill in the shapes with Satin Stitch.
Follow the same process and fill in all botanical elements, using the stitch color guide provided. Remember to first outline each shape using Back Stitch, then fill in using Satin Stitch.
You can play around with different color schemes and create really beautiful monochromatic versions. The outcome can be really esthetically pleasing when combined with the colored background fabric.
In my monochromatic example below I used DMC White for outlining the hands, and for the botanical elements a lighter tone of blue similar to the background, ensuring there is enough contrast between the background and the stitched pattern.
The same goes in my pink version, I used DMC White for outlining the hands, and for the botanical elements a lighter tone of the same background pink.
I’d love to see your progress! Tag @makenstitch on Instagram and hashtag it #makenstitch so I can see your magic!
FINISHING YOUR EMBROIDERY
Just one more step before you can show off your beautiful creation. At this point, it’s up to you how you would like to display your embroidered pattern. You could take out your embroidery and frame it using any photo frame or you can leave it in the hoop you stitched it in and just finish the back of your hoop.
The easiest method for finishing the back of your hoop is to use a Running Stitch and if needed cut out the excess fabric. If you wish to cover up the back of your hoop, you could do so by cutting a piece of white felt and then stitch or glue it to the back of your embroidery hoop.
Congratulations! You have successfully completed this tutorial!
I really hope you enjoyed this tutorial and please let me know in the comments below if you have any questions or suggestions about stitching the Love pattern.
I would love to see your end result and how you chose to display your beautiful creation. Don’t forget to tag @makenstitch on Instagram and hashtag it #makenstitch so I can see your work!
You can download the Love embroidery pattern from my Free Pattern Library. To get access to the Free Pattern Library fill out the form below and I will send you an email with your password.
More Embroidery Projects
Did you try this pattern? Come over to our Facebook Group and show everyone your beautiful creation!
SAVE THIS FOR LATER? ADD THE LOVE EMBROIDERY TUTORIAL TO YOUR FAVOURITE PINTEREST BOARD
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