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Heart embroidery pattern framed embroidery

Do you make holiday presents and decorations yourself? Here is an idea: embroidered heart picture. Heart hand embroidery tutorial and pattern – my gift to you, I hope you are going to enjoy it.

Heart embroidery pattern inspiration licitar

My inspiration for this little piece is traditional Croatian thing: licitar. Licitar is a cake in the shape of the heart that you would give to someone as a sign of love and affection. They could be large, for example the size of two palms, or tiny, such as this one here – I use tiny ones as Christmas decorations. Usually licitar is red, with white, yellow and green decorations. The heart can have a mirror in the centre, and larger versions sometimes have a piece of paper with verses about love written on them… Nice, kitschy, old fashioned, whatever – I love those hearts!

Heart embroidery pattern fabric and threads

So what will you need for this little project?

A piece of fabric – I used linen canvas; embroidery thread in colours of your choice – holding on to tradition in this interpretation of licitar I used red, green, white and yellow, and embroidery needle and scissors, of course. If you are going to make a picture, than you will need small wooden frame as well.

You will need a pattern too – it is here: Heart embroidery pattern.

In the previous posts dedicated to embroidery I showed each of the stitches used for this project and tutorials for those hand embroidery stitches are here:

Stem stitch,

Chain stitch,

Lazy daisy stitch,

French knot stitch.

Heart embroidery pattern transfer

First thing to do is to print out the pattern and transfer it to the fabric. I prefer using good old carbon copy paper. In case any lines remain visible after the embroidery has been finished simply gently wash the fabric and they will disappear.

Next: get your embroidery needle and threads and enjoy stitching.

Heart embroidery pattern hand embroidery

Heart embroidery pattern stitching onto linen

Heart embroidery pattern french knot, lazy daisy, stem and chain stitch

Once the heart embroidery has been finished, if you are going to frame it, I would recommend that you strengthen the fabric by fusing the interfacing onto the back of it.

Heart embroidery pattern assembling embroidery picture

The final step: frame the heart and give it to someone you love, infused with all the love and nice thoughts you thought while making the heart.

Happy holidays,

Mare