Add a personal touch to your Valentine’s Day celebration with an Embroidered Heart Card. project adds a personal and creative flair to your expression of love. In this article, we’ll guide you through simple steps to craft a charming embroidered card that goes beyond traditional gestures.
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Project Overview
PROJECT SIZE: approx. 7.5×7.5cm (3x3in)
STITCHES USED: French knot, satin stitch, and straight stitch
Before we start, I want to mention a few important things to remember. This is the pattern where you’ll want to be careful with the back of your stitching.
Why? Because everything will show on the front once we construct the card. Every little bump, knot, or thread carried away from one side to another, they will all show on the front of our beautiful card!
Another thing to consider is the number of strands we’ll be using. The stranded cotton embroidery thread is made up of six strands. We will be stitching this project using just two and four strands.
As a general rule when stitching the pattern:
- All Red elements were stitched using 4 strands of thread.
- All French Knots (Red and Green) were stitched using 4 strands of thread.
- All Black and Green elements were stitched using 2 strands of thread.
Tools and Materials
This pattern is really easy to stitch and not pretentious at all in terms of materials. I’ll list all the materials below, including the ones I used for constructing the card.
MATERIALS YOU’LL NEED
- Heart pattern #14– download the free embroidery pattern from the Free Pattern Library – get the password by filling out the form below
- 100% cotton, linen or linen blend fabric
- Embroidery hoop 6in
- Heat erasable transfer pen – for transferring patterns
- Led light pad or just a window- for transferring patterns onto fabrics
- Embroidery needle size 5 or 7
- DMC or ANCHOR threads
- Card making blanks – size 12.5 x 12.5cm
- Double-sided tape or Craft glue – for construction
- Sharp embroidery scissors
- (Optional) Zig-Zag scissors – for preventing the fabric from fraying
- (Optional) Photo printer
Download the Free Pattern
Download the heart pattern from the 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.
Since the finished product is pretty small, we’ll be cutting out the fabric only after we finish stitching the pattern.
The central part – the heart design will be stitched, while the dashed lines will be used as a guideline to cut out the fabric once the stitching is done.
The pattern you have downloaded is full size, created to fit a card size 12.5 x 12.5cm.
When printing the JPG pattern on A4 paper, make sure to have the Fill Entire Paper option selected. That’s all, you don’t have to change anything else!
Use the image above as a reference. This is how my printer settings look.
Transferring the Pattern
My favorite method for tracing patterns onto fabric is using a Lightpad when the material allows it. I find this as the fastest manual tracing method.
I am using the Stone TH Led Light Pad for tracing all my patterns onto light fabrics, does the job and it’s super cheap!
In this case, the colour and thickness of the fabric I’m using are allowing me to use this tracing method.
That wouldn’t be the case if I’d be using a heavier fabric or a much darker colour. The Lightbox tracing method would be trickier in that case. Before tracing the pattern, consider the thickness and color of the fabric you plan to use.
- Print your pattern: If you don’t have access to a printer, you can trace the pattern onto a piece of tracing/baking paper.
- Plugin and turn on the lightbox: Place the printed pattern on the lightbox, then place your fabric on top of the printed pattern. If you don’t have access to a lightbox, place the printed pattern over a window and secure it with masking tape, then place the fabric on top of it and secure again.
- Secure the fabric: Secure your fabric with masking tape.
- Trace the pattern: Trace over the pattern’s lines with the tool of your choice. You can use a washable tracing pen or a very fine-tip pigment liner (0.05 or 0.1).
NOTE: Since the finished product is pretty small, we’ll be cutting out the fabric only after we finish stitching the pattern.
Stitching the Heart
Start by outlining the Heart with outline stitch, using 2 strands of DMC 310 (Black).
If you’re planning to mount your embroidery on a card, be mindful about the knots on the back of the fabric. A messy back or big, chuncky knots will show on the front of your finished card.
1. Start by going forward a stitch length, don’t pull through the entire thread. While holding the loop on the surface with one hand, return up again about halfway down the line.
Pull through, with the thread above the working line, then go forward another stitch length again and repeat the same steps.
A thing to consider is to keep the length of your stitches consistent, for a nice and tidy outcome.
2. For the leaves, use simple straight stitches with 2 strands of DMC 986. This method of stitching leaves looks a bit like the Satin Stitch, but it’s not really Satin Stitch. I’m not even sure if it has a name, I just called them Straight Stitches, because this is what they really are.
Bring your thread up from the outside of the leaves, working inwards come down again and again in the almost same spot at the base of the leaves.
TIP: This method works really well for small shapes, like leaves, buds, or flowers.
3. Stitch the big flowers using 4 strands of DMC 817. Same as the leaves, start from the outside, working inwards using Straight Stitch. I stitched each individual petal at a time.
Continue filling the rest of the big flowers, using the same technique.
4. Stitch the small star shaped flowers with Lazy Daisy stitch using 4 strands of the same DMC 817.
5. Thread a Milliners needle size 3 with 4 strands of DMC 817 and stitch the small red bulbs with French Knot.
6. Last step, yayyy!! In the middle of each red star-shaped flower, add a French Knot using 4 strands of DMC 986 (Forest Green Very Dark).
Love them or hate them, but they sure look good!
Many stitchers struggle with the French Knot stitch, but let me tell you something. Once you get the hang of it, you’ll end up loving this little stitch. Here is a full tutorial on how to stitch the French Knot.
Your beautiful embroidery piece is ready to be mounted!
I really hope you enjoyed stitching this project. Feel free to use your own methods or other materials than I did. Get creative and enjoy the process.
Constructing the Card
To keep a manageable tutorial length, I’ve divided it into two parts. For constructing the card, I have a dedicated step by step article just for that. The method is versatile and can be applied to any design you wish to transform into a beautiful embroidered card.
Get the tutorial at How to Make Hand Embroidered Greeting Cards.
Remember that you can download the Heart pattern from the Free Pattern Library. To access it just fill out the form below and I will send you an email with your password.
More Embroidery Projects
- You’ve Been Booed! Free Embroidery Pattern and Printable Tags
- 15 Halloween Cupcakes Recipes for Your Spooky Gathering
- DIY Mistletoe Christmas Ornament
- 20 Free Halloween Embroidery Designs to Stitch This Season
Did you try this project? Come over to our Facebook Group and show everyone your magic!
SAVE THIS FOR LATER? ADD THIS TUTORIAL TO YOUR FAVOURITE PINTEREST BOARD
I am not able to find this in your free library patterns.
Hey Sheila,
It’s pattern #14 in the library, has been uploaded a while back. Thanks for giving me the heads up about the typo in the Tools and materials section of the tutorial (oops, said it was #32 which could’ve thrown you off). All sorted now though, fixed that typo. You’ll find the pattern just a bit further down the list since I first uploaded it as part of another tutorial.
Hope you’ll enjoy stitching it!
Drop me a line and let me know how it turns out. xx