Floral Heart Embroidery Sampler Piecework Pillow

Inspiration: Beginner's Embroidery Kit Heart Sampler

I'd come across this Floral Heart Embroidery Sampler when searching for the previous Heart Embroidery Sampler and liked design as well as the opportunity to practice even more stitches.

Materials 

• A huge box of embroidery floss in a variety of colors (that belonged to a favorite aunt)
• Small, pointed, sharp thread scissors
• Fabric scissors to cut fabric, optional
• Embroidery needles
• Needle threaders, optional
• Hoops of various sizes, 8" for this project (a gift for which I'm grateful)
• Squares of various solid color cotton fabrics I got for free, cut to 10" x 10" or 12" x 12"
• A long, thin loop turner, optional (not pictured here)
• A container for the project and supplies (not pictured)
• Pencil, pen, chalk, or colored pencil to transfer the pattern (not pictured)
• A pattern (linked below)
• Paper cutter or paper scissors--do not use fabric scissors on paper or they will get dull faster

 

Step 1:  Gather supplies. 

Pattern
A sampler pattern gives you the opportunity to learn several new stitches and attempt to make an appealing design with them.   I followed the directions in the Inspiration link for preparation. 

Embroidery Floss
I used a pleasing combination of four different floss colors with multiple hues that coordinated with the pastel lavender fabric I had.  I ended up with about ten different colors total.

Hoop
Choose your hoop size so you know how large to cut your fabric square.  I had ~9" fabric squares and chose a 5" hoop because that was the size of the pattern.  I put a rubber band on the inner hoop to help with traction and that kept better tension on  the fabric.


Needle
The needle needs to be large enough to make threading it easy enough, but I think mine's too large and makes holes in the fabric that allow the knots to pass through, unless I double knot the end of the floss.  I didn't knot my work in the back; this time, I anchored the thread by running it through the back of some previous work, sometimes a second time in the opposite direction, if I didn't have at least 1" of thread anchored.

Fabric Scissors, Thread Scissors, and Paper Scissors or Paper Cutter
You may need fabric scissors to cut the fabric.  It's easier to have dedicated scissors, but if you're not worried about your edges being rough, it may not matter.  Don't use fabric scissors on paper if you do have a separate pair, or they dull faster.

The thread scissors need to be sharp enough to easily snip the thread and small and pointed enough to snip a stitch if you have to remove some of your work.

You will also need paper scissors or a paper cutter to trim your pattern.

Loop Turner, optional
I used this to re-knot some trimmed work where the knots spontaneously came undone.  It can also help with anchoring the final ends of your work.

Fabric
I've since learned there's cloth that's specifically woven to make such projects easier, called Aida weave.  This fabric is a plain calico and worked well enough, but I need a smaller bore needle.

I washed, ironed, and cut several squares of various pastels, and ultimately chose a pale lavender and a palette of purple, green, red, pink, and blue threads. 

Container
I have a small box that fits everything including my current project.  This makes it easy to tidy up without putting everything away.

Writing Utensil
The pattern transfer link (below) discusses several options and how to choose them.  I used a 7H graphite pencil, which in retrospect was a bad choice for a pastel lavender fabric.  I should have used a light colored pencil or perhaps chalk; I have many options of both.  The other issue with the fabric was that it stretched as I sketched on it.  A softer lead may have distorted the pattern less.

Step 2:  Transfer the pattern and prepare the hoop and fabric.

There are several methods for transferring a pattern.  I taped my paper and fabric to my window on a sunny day and used a 6B graphite pencil as discussed under Writing Utensil.  I should have chosen differently; this graphite doesn't brush off easily, nor do I plan to wash the finished piece.

The pattern is emailed free via the Inspiration link.  It comes with color/thread directions shown, as well an older layout and color/thread suggestion (not shown).

My final version of the pattern is on the left.

Step 3:  Choose thread colors.

I didn't have the colors listed, so I chose a combination that I thought was close enough and most pleasing of my options.

The original used 8 colors.  Mine has 10 with the addition of black and because I used two reds as well as the pink for the rose.  I used a variegated purple for the heart fill and the Wide Detached Chain Petals, so it looks like more colors.

Step 4:  Begin stitching. 

The Inspiration link includes a downloadable step-wise stitch guide, but I needed to google some stitches for better instructions.

I used a Layered Back Stitch to fill the heart with a solid dark and variegated purples.  The Padded Satin Stitch mini heart I based on a Chain Stitch that's too lumpy for this size.  For the Woven Wheel Rose I used three colors, and figured out how on my own.  The three types of exterior petals are a Long Single Stitch in the pink, a Detached Chain in the darker red, and a Wide Detached Chain in the lighter section of the variegated purple.

 

Step 5:  Keep the back tidy and anchor threads. 

The reverse shows how I anchored my threads in existing work.  I attempted to keep the threads on the back hidden from the front, so when I lay this over batting, they won't show through the light background fabric.

Step 6:  Continue stitching. 

I Fern Stitched the dark green leaf, but had to add additional thread partway through and lost my rhythm so it's a bit off towards the base.  The light green leaf is a Couched Satin Stitch.

I freehanded the butterfly to hide the lopsidedness of the mini heart and where the graphite that showed, using single strand black Back Stitch and Satin Stitch with a smaller needle, and filled it with electric blue in a Satin Stitch with three threads.

Step 7:  Finish stitching. 

I added more French Knots to hide graphite and some 3-strand knots in between to make it look better and tack down some larger knots. 3-strand might have been better to start, but one also pulled through the fabric. The Whipped Stem Stitch is the only one I had true difficulty with twisted floss. I should have used fewer strands for the Fern Stitched leaflets, and I like the look of outside-middle-outside better than any other order where the middle is stitched last.



Here's a close-up of the back of the Stem Stitch (before Whipping, but with anchors).  The front and back of the Stem Stitch should look the same; I might try to replicate this intricate woven look for some future project.

 

 

 

    

 

  

Step 8:  Design the piecework pattern. 

My mom has leftover scraps, pre-cut squares and triangles, that she won't use, so I can select from those for free. 

I used a giant sheet of graph paper, from a pad I also picked up for free, and drew grid lines every 2" -- the approximate width of a sewn square.  Using her rotary cutter, mat, and ruler, I used another sheet to cut 2" squares and cut half of those into "half-squares", so called to differentiate these triangles by those called "quarter-squares."  I laid those out until I had a design approximating a flower.

This is a pillow that will be 18"x18", or 9x9 squares and 3x3 blocks.

I used another sheet of graph paper, and transferred one-fourth of the design to that -- I can make four pairs of blocks from that and rotate them about the design; the center block will have the embroidery piece appliqued.

Step 9:  Determine the pieces needed. 

I transferred the design to a grid-dotted notebook (not to scale) for easier reference, and made notes about what number of each shape of piece I will need in what hues and tones.

I sorted through her thousands of scraps and hundreds of fabrics first by color, then separated each hue (here, green and purple) roughly by shade and tone.  I tried to select unique fabrics for each piece, but in some cases used a striped piece cut vertically and the same one cut on the diagonal; in other cases used the reverse of a fabric if it looked enough like a true print.

(This page also has notes at the bottom about a second project using this pattern.)

There are 121 total pieces in this pattern, and at least 115 unique fabrics for this face.  This is not including the backing that I will quilt the face to, or the background for the embroidery, which I will applique in the center of the piecework, or the back of the pillow itself, which will be one large piece.

 

Step 10:  Incorporate into piecework. 

Details

Step 11:  Quilt pillow front. 

Details

Step 12:  Finish pillow. 

Details

 

WORK IN PROGRESS