Cloud raining rainbow hearts hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 6 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Cloud raining rainbow hearts: preview of the stitched design

A gray cloud rains hearts in the colors of the rainbow. The cloud is one full shape drawn in two rows of chain stitch, and from it fall eleven hearts of satin stitch in five ranks, a color to a rank: red, orange, yellow, green and blue. Every other rank is set half a step lower, and the middle rank has three hearts where the others have two.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: chain stitch, with some short satin stitches; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

6 colors of floss and 2 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.2 × 1.4 in	3 × 3.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	1.9 × 2.1 in	4.8 × 5.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.5 × 2.8 in	6.4 × 7.1 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.1 × 3.5 in	7.9 × 8.9 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.3 × 4.9 in	10.9 × 12.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)

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

What you need

DMC 414 Dark Steel GrayCloud outline
DMC 304 Medium RedRed hearts
DMC 922 Light CopperOrange hearts
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold hearts
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenGreen hearts
DMC 3755 Baby BlueBlue hearts

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

Chain stitch 2 or 3 strandsCloud outline
Satin stitch 2 strandsHearts

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.