Peony vine heart hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 6 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Peony vine heart: preview of the stitched design

A heart is made of two leafy branches: they rise from a peony at the point, 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 branches are stem stitch and the leaves are satin stitch in a dark and a light green; the peony is all satin stitch, rings of petals in blush pink, pale pink and deep rose round a gold center. The middle is left open for a name, a date or a pair of initials.

Size and details

Intermediate. Long satin stitches from a 5 inch hoop up.

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)	1.6 × 1.7 in	4.1 × 4.3 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.5 in	6.1 × 6.4 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.4 in	8.4 × 8.6 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4.2 in	10.4 × 10.7 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5.9 in	14.5 × 15 cm	5/8 in (16 mm)

In an 8 inch hoop the widest satin stitch shape is 5/8 in (16 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 986 Very Dark Forest GreenBranches and darker half of each leaf
DMC 320 Medium Pistachio GreenLighter half of each leaf
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkPeony back petals and peony center petals
DMC 3779 Very Light RosewoodPeony outer petals
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RosePeony inner petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawPeony center

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), peony back petals, peony outer petals, peony inner petals, peony center petals, peony center

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.