Primrose vine heart hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 5 colors · 4 kinds of stitch

Primrose vine heart: preview of the stitched design

A heart is made of two leafy branches: they rise from a primrose 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 primrose has five notched yellow petals in long and short stitch, each with a gold satin stitch dart at its base, round an orange French knot. The middle is left open for a name, a date or initials.

Size and details

Intermediate. Uses long and short stitch.

5 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	1/16 in (1.6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.3 × 3.4 in	8.4 × 8.6 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4.1 × 4.2 in	10.4 × 10.7 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.7 × 5.9 in	14.5 × 15 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)

In a 3 inch hoop the French knot is drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for it 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 726 Light TopazPrimrose petals
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawGold darts on the primrose petals
DMC 922 Light CopperPrimrose 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), gold darts on the primrose petals
Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsPrimrose petals
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsPrimrose 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.