"Love" Embroidered Wall Hanging

Happy Friday, folks! I know this looks like a bit of a Valentine's post in April, but it's totally not. I firmly believe that any day is a good day to tell someone you love them. After all, people need love all year round. And Mother's Day is right around the corner! So if you have someone special in mind, round up some fabric and some embroidery floss, because we're crafting!

What You'll Need:

 Embroidery Floss (I used brown, black, and a dark red, but use whatever compliments your fabric)

Tapestry Need, Size 24 (tips on choosing needle types and sizes)
Embroidery Hoop (I use an 8" hoop)
Pattern (see below)

Fabric (I used fabrics from Sew Fine Fabric)

Water Soluble Tracing Pen 

 

The Pattern:

I free-handed this a bit, so it's not perfect, but it'll do! Feel free to re-make it with your own hand-writing! 

What To Do:

1. Using a heart-shaped stencil and the water soluble tracing pen, trace four hearts onto your fabric of choice, and carefully cut them out.

2. Trace the pattern onto your fabric using the water soluble pen, and place the fabric in your embroidery hoop.

3. Lay your hearts one at a time onto the fabric, pinning them in place with one or two straight pins. Use 2 strands of red embroidery floss and the running stitch technique around the inner edge of the hearts to stitch them into place (removing the straight pins as you go).

4. Next, use the 2 strands of black embroidery floss and the back stitch technique to embroider the string that the hearts are hung on. (I actually embroidered two rows of stitches very close together to give the impression of a thicker string. If the weave of your material is loose enough, you can avoid this by using all 6 strands.)

5. Using 2 strands of brown embroidery thread and the back stitch technique, embroider the text. For a little pop of color, use 2 strands of red floss to embroider the little heart at the end of the "d".

6. Remove the fabric from the embroidery hoop, and gently rinse it to remove any trace of the water soluble pen markings. Let it dry.

7. Now that the embroidery is complete, it's time to finish the hoop for display. Using this method, wrap the outer frame of the embroidery hoop with long strips of the red fabric. 

8. Place the embroidered work back in the hoop, and trim the excess chevron fabric, leaving about 1/2" around the edge of the hoop. Fold that remaining fabric over the inside of the embroidery hoop, and use a hot glue gun to secure it to the hoop. 

9. Finally, cut a circular piece of fabric to lay over the back of the embroidery, and hot glue the edges to the inside of the hoop (if you don't mind the back of your work being visible, you can skip this step).

10. Ta da! You did it! Deliver the finished product to someone you love (preferably along with a big hug)!