Hot-air balloon with hearts hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 4 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Hot-air balloon with hearts: preview of the stitched design

A hot-air balloon sits in a frame of twenty hearts that takes the shape of the balloon itself, round over the crown and coming to a point under the basket, every heart upright. The balloon has nine gores, the long panels from its top to its mouth, five of them red satin stitch and four bare cloth, a satin stitch crown, skirt and basket and four back stitch ropes, and the hearts are satin stitch, red and pink by turns. It is a design for a Valentine, a wedding card or a gift for a new baby.

Size and details

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

4 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)	1.6 × 2 in	4.1 × 5.1 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.9 in	6.1 × 7.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 3.9 in	8.1 × 9.9 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 4.9 in	10.2 × 12.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.6 × 6.9 in	14.2 × 17.5 cm	1/2 in (13 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 1/2 in (13 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 RedGores and red hearts
DMC 336 Navy BlueCrown and skirt, ropes, and basket rim
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownBasket
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RosePink 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

Satin stitch 2 strandsGores, crown and skirt, basket, basket rim, hearts
Back stitch 2 strandsRopes

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.