Sweetheart bow hand embroidery pattern

Intermediate · 3 colors · 1 kind of stitch

Sweetheart bow: preview of the stitched design

A satin bow has a heart at the knot: two full loops and two tails that swing outward and end in swallow tails, and over their meeting a plump pink heart. The ribbon is red satin stitch laid across it, turning with each loop, and the heart is satin stitch in two halves that slant to its point. It is all one stitch.

Size and details

Intermediate. Satin stitch over about a sixth of the cloth in a 6 inch hoop; from a 5 inch hoop up some of the satin stitches are long.

3 colors of floss and 1 kind of stitch:

Satin stitch
Which stitch goes where

The stitched size and the widest satin stitch, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters	Satin stitch up to
3 in (8 cm)	1.6 × 1.4 in	4.1 × 3.6 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.4 × 2.1 in	6.1 × 5.3 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	3.2 × 2.9 in	8.1 × 7.4 cm	3/8 in (10 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	4 × 3.6 in	10.2 × 9.1 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	5.5 × 5 in	14 × 12.7 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 355 Dark Terra CottaBow tails
DMC 304 Medium RedBow loops
DMC 152 Medium Light Shell PinkHeart

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 strandsBow tails, bow loops, heart

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.