Nested rainbow heart hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Nested rainbow heart: preview of the stitched design

Five hearts sit one inside another, each a single line of chain stitch in its own color: red on the outside, then orange, yellow, green and blue at the heart, with an even band of cloth between one and the next. Every heart has the same notch at the top and the same point at the foot. It is all one stitch.

Size and details

Easy. Chain stitch only, in five colors.

5 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Chain stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters
3 in (8 cm)	1.4 × 1.3 in	3.6 × 3.3 cm
4 in (10 cm)	2.2 × 1.9 in	5.6 × 4.8 cm
5 in (13 cm)	2.9 × 2.6 in	7.4 × 6.6 cm
6 in (15 cm)	3.6 × 3.2 in	9.1 × 8.1 cm
8 in (20 cm)	5 × 4.5 in	12.7 × 11.4 cm

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 RedOuter heart
DMC 922 Light CopperSecond heart
DMC 726 Light TopazThird heart
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenFourth heart
DMC 3755 Baby BlueInner heart

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 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.