Chevron striped heart hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Chevron striped heart: preview of the stitched design

A heart is filled edge to edge with chevron bands that point up. Nine bands of one width run from the top of the heart to its point, in light pink, dark pink and red by turns, beginning with light pink at the top and ending with red in the point. Each band is two arms, one on either side of the heart, that rise toward the center line, and below the cleft the two arms meet on that line. The chevron bands are all satin stitch, each arm laid across its own width, so the stitches change direction at the center line.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a third of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 6 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

3 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.5 × 1.4 in	3.8 × 3.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 2.1 in	5.6 × 5.3 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 2.8 in	7.4 × 7.1 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.7 × 3.6 in	9.4 × 9.1 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.1 × 5 in	13 × 12.7 cm	9/16 in (14 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 9/16 in (14 mm) across. Satin stitches longer than about 12 mm (just under 1/2 in) tend to work loose: divide the shape into sections, or work it in long and short stitch.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 304 Medium RedRed chevron bands
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseDarker pink chevron bands
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkLighter pink chevron bands

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Satin stitch 2 strandsChevron bands

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.