Stitched Valentine Card

Difficulty Level: Easy
Project Length: Quick

Difficulty Level: Easy

Project Length: Quick

To stitch this hand-embroidered card you will need:

• Printed Out 'Love You' Pattern - CLICK HERE to print
• A blank Kraft card measuring 6" by 6"
• Thread in the following colour; pink DMC 3805 / Madeira 702
• Masking or washi tape
• Carbon Paper and pencil - optional
• Glass/plastic headed pin
• Needle, Scissors

If you are new to embroidery you can find a guide to the basics,  here. You will find guides to all the stitches mentioned in this pattern, here .

Preparation

Once you have printed out the 'Love You' pattern there are two ways to transfer it on to your card.

The first method is to use carbon paper, cut a square of carbon paper the same size as your card and tape it ink side down to the front of the card. Cut out the love heart design and tape it on top of the carbon paper. As shown below:

Trace the lines of the pattern with a pencil pressing firmly, this will transfer the design to the card. Once transferred the card will look like this.

Now take your pin and work your way around the black lines making a hole roughly every 4mm. You could place an old magazine or newspaper under the card to protect any surfaces and your fingers. 

The second transfer method is to print and cut out the 'love you' design and tape it carefully to the front of the card. Now work your way around the design making holes by pushing the pin through the paper and card along the line of the pattern. Make a hole every 4mm and make sure the holes follow the pattern lines carefully. 

When you have finished your card will look like the image below, you can see the holes are punched all the way around and the spacing between the holes is even.

 

Stitching Notes

1. Every element of this design is stitched using 2 strands of thread and a simple back stitch. To begin cut an arm's length of bright pink thread and separate 2 of the six strands by untwisting the thread (if you are new to embroidery and have not done this before you will find more instructions in our beginner's embroidery guide).

Thread your needle with the 2 strands and tie a knot in the other end.

Now begin to stitch the heart, push your needle through one of the holes you have just made and continue to stitch through the holes using a simple back stitch (click here for a guide to back stitch). Keep the stitches small and tight.

 

2. Now continue to stitch the lettering in exactly the same way.

And that's it, all done, you have made a beautiful handmade card for someone special.

Below you can see the same design used to stitch cards in different colours.