Valentine truck with heart balloons hand embroidery pattern

Easy · 5 colors · 2 kinds of stitch

Valentine truck with heart balloons: preview of the stitched design

A pickup truck seen from straight in front carries three heart balloons tied in its bed and a fourth heart on its nose, all four the same. The truck and the hearts are outlined in stem stitch and the strings of the balloons are stem stitch; the solid heart inside each one, the rail of the bed, the lamps, the bumper and the tires are satin stitch.

Size and details

Easy. In a hoop of 6 inches or less: short satin stitches, no shading; in a larger hoop the widest satin stitches are long.

5 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)	1.4 × 1.7 in	3.6 × 4.3 cm	1/8 in (3 mm)
4 in (10 cm)	2.1 × 2.5 in	5.3 × 6.4 cm	3/16 in (5 mm)
5 in (13 cm)	2.8 × 3.4 in	7.1 × 8.6 cm	1/4 in (6 mm)
6 in (15 cm)	3.4 × 4.2 in	8.6 × 10.7 cm	5/16 in (8 mm)
8 in (20 cm)	4.8 × 5.9 in	12.2 × 15 cm	7/16 in (11 mm)

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 RedStrings and hearts
DMC 3350 Ultra Dark Dusty RoseBed outline, cab outline, outlines of the fenders, nose outline and headlamps rims
DMC 414 Dark Steel GrayBed rail, bumper and tires
DMC 3755 Baby BlueWindshield
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawHeadlamps

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 strandsStrings, outlined hearts, bed outline, cab outline, windshield, outlines of the fenders, nose outline, headlamps rims
Satin stitch 2 strandsSolid hearts, bed rail, headlamps, bumper, tires

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.