Hydrangea vine heart hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 6 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Hydrangea vine heart: preview of the stitched design

A hydrangea sits at the point of a heart of two leafy branches: they swell out, round over the lobes and end in a small curl each side of the cleft, with pairs of leaves as far as the curl. The head is navy long and short stitch, and on it lie seven four-petalled florets in lilac and sky blue satin stitch, each with a yellow French knot, with navy satin stitch florets showing behind them. The branches are stem stitch and the leaves are satin stitch in a dark and a light green.

Size and details

Easy. Short satin stitches, with a little long and short stitch.

6 colors of floss and 4 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 × 1.7 in	4.1 × 4.3 cm	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.5 in	6.1 × 6.4 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.4 in	8.4 × 8.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4.2 in	10.4 × 10.7 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5.9 in	14.5 × 15 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)

In a 3 or 4 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

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

What you need

DMC 986 Very Dark Forest GreenBranches and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 336 Navy BlueHydrangea head and hydrangea back florets
DMC 3755 Baby BlueBlue hydrangea florets
DMC 210 Medium LavenderLilac hydrangea florets
DMC 726 Light TopazKnots of the hydrangea florets

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

Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsBranches
Satin stitch 2 strandsLeaves (each half slanted to the center vein, in its own color), hydrangea back florets, hydrangea florets
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsHydrangea head
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsKnots of the hydrangea florets

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.