Have you ever done a random act of kindness with your embroidery machine? It’s easy and fun and might just make someone’s day. Not only did we leave a dozen hearts out for strangers for some Valentine’s Day fun, but I’m sharing the pattern with you too so hopefully that’ll make you smile too.
This pattern has been compressed as a zip file containing all the available file types in either a single heart at a time or 3 hearts at a time file. To use them, right-click on the file and click “extract all”. This will turn it into a regular folder of files.
To download this free pattern for your embroidery machine, no sign-ups or details are required. But I’d love to see how yours came out so please do tag me if you share pictures of them online. You can either download a file suitable for a 10cm x 10cm (approx. 4×4 inches) hoop for 1 heart (containing all the listed file types) or 3 hearts at once for a 13 x 18cm (approx. 5×7 inch) hoop (not all file types are supported for this size). Approximate sewing time is about 9 minutes per heart.
Ignore the thread colour names in the files. They are just used as breakpoints for the machine. I only used white thread. Check out the instructions below to follow along.
You Will Need:
- Tear Away stabiliser
- Embroidery Threads
- Ribbon – approx. 16cm (6½ inches) per heart
- Non-stretch fabric
- Fabric Starch
You’ll need a hooped piece of tear-away stabiliser only to begin with.
Colour 1 – Lemon Yellow – This stitches out an outline of each heart onto the stabiliser. If you’re making 3 at once, it’ll always do each stage in the same order.
Arrange your ribbon loop so that the folded loop is taped to the frame out of the way. The free ends should be central at the top of the heart so that it comes into the heart by a couple of cm (almost an inch). Either carefully hold or tape the very end of this in this position.
Colour 2 – Silver, (3 – Pink & 4 – Magenta) – This tacks the ribbon down to the stabiliser inside the heart so it’ll stay in place. If you’re sewing 3 at once, this is 3 colour changes so you can position one at a time.
Lay out a piece of fabric floated on top of the hoop. I used a non-stretch fabric which I starched first to make it easier to float and embroider, and also so that it’ll hold the heart shape better after.
1 heart = thread colour 3. 3 hearts = colour change 5 = Red.
This step will stitch out the outline of the hearts, tacking the top fabric to the stabiliser.
1 heart = thread colour 4. 3 hearts = colour change 6. – Dark Grey
This stage stitches out the words “This heart picked you!” then adds a little heart motif around the heart edges. If you’d rather have plain hearts, feel free to skip this step.
After this has stitched out, trim around the fabric close to the hearts. I prefer using curved end applique scissors to do this as I can snip more closely without accidentally snipping the stitches or stabiliser. Be careful here not to cut the ribbon loop.
Pin another piece of starched non-stretch fabric to the back, making sure the pins are well out of the way of the hearts at the front.
1 heart = thread colour 5. 3 hearts = colour change 7 – Lemon Yellow
This stage traces around each heart again to tack down the back fabric.
Trim off the excess fabric at the back as close to the stitching as you can.
1 heart = thread colour 6. 3 hearts = colour change 8 – Red
This final step stitches out a satin stitch all the way around the hearts
Now all that’s left to do is to gently separate the heart from the tear away stabiliser then it’s all done and ready to decorate with, or to leave out somewhere to brighten up someone else’s day!
Want a peek at where we left them all? You can sneak a peak in this short!
