cross my heart sampler

Cross My Heart Sampler

This sampler is an inspiration for you to let go of the rules of embroidery and get a little messy. Use all of the strands at once and make luscious mounds of french knots. Have fun with it.

We'll make 16 little postage stamp stitched squares all lined up in a neat little grid. As I was creating this piece, I kept thinking of those that I love. I thought about how different each of our hearts are...all slightly imperfect but beautiful. Think of the people you love when you make this piece and that love will shine through.

Are you ready to get started?

You'll need:

• 10" square or larger of natural, unbleached linen
• 6" sewing hoop
• a fine point sharpie marker or a very sharp pencil
• a variety of embroidery needles, including one with an eye large enough to accommodate 6 strands of floss
• Sewing scissors
• Skeins of light pink, medium pink and dark pink floss, as well as white or other neutral color
• A variety of pink, red, and ivory ribbons, lace, felt, and fabric bits and scraps
• Felt glue (or any glue you have on hand that dries clear on fabric)
• Pink seed and bugle beads
• 1 small white button
• 20" of delicate lace for the edge of the piece
• pins
• 8" square gallery wrapped artist canvas
• Pink paint and gesso
• 20" velvet ribbon

Using a ruler as your guide and working on a hard flat surface, create a grid directly onto your fabric, 4" x 4" with 1" squares. Try to work with the grain of the fabric, drawing your lines straight and square. Use a very sharp pencil instead if you are unsure of this step.
I always work with a hoop when I embroider. It helps me keep the stitches even and I feel a bit more in control. If you don't usually use a hoop, try it for this project.

Ready for the first square? It's my favorite.
On a little square of felt, glue layers of trim, ribbons, etc. I used felt glue but use whatever glue you have on hand that dries clear.
Trim off the excess felt and cut out a heart. You can draw a heart on the reverse and use it as a guide for cutting if you'd like.
Isn't that pretty?
Secure the heart inside the first square with a little "x". Leave the tail in the back long and tie it off to secure.
For the next heart, you'll sew a little beaded heart. The outline is made up of mostly bugle beads. Use a very thin needle and two strands of floss, knotted at the end. Work with just a couple of beads at a time, threading them on and then securing them to the fabric.
Try drawing the heart onto the fabric with pencil if you're concerned about your freehand skills...just be sure to cover the pencil marks with your sewing.
See how I put little round beads in the outline?
Using the same technique of threading the beads on a few at a time and then sewing the stitch, fill the inside of the heart...
Looking good!
The next heart is created using really wide satin stitches. Load up your needle with all 6 strands of floss and knot the end. Starting at the fat part of the heart about mid-way down the square, stitch across a few times as shown above.
Gradually decrease your stitches to make a little funnel.
Go back up to the top of the heart and make the little humps.

It looks great like this...but a little wobbly, don't you think?
Go back over any spots of the heart that look a little uneven or rough to smooth it out.
That's better...
Search through an old book for the word "love"...cut it out and glue it directly on top of the heart. (If you'd prefer, here's a scan of a page with the word "love" on it that you can print out instead)

Heart No. 4: With just a few strands of floss, stitch the outline of a heart.
With a full load of floss, make random fat stitches to fill in the heart...
Work in brushstroke-like stitches...
And just have fun.
The next heart is a satin-stitched heart just like No. 3. Follow those same instructions but this time cut a little square of fabric (I used a darker, rougher linen) and stitch through both fabrics at once. If you're using a tightly woven fabric, I suggest using a thin needle and less floss. You might find it easier to stitch the heart on the swatch first and then attaching it to the grid with just a stitch or two in the same satin stitch manner.
Ready for a really easy one? Cut a tiny heart out of a satin ribbon...
And stitch it into place with an "x".
For the next heart, we'll stitch through a layer of lace.
I made this one a little skinnier than the other hearts for a little diversity.

For the next one cut a heart out of felt...
And stitch it into place.

Another easy one...cut a heart out of a bit of ribbon (velvet, silk or satin) and french knot it into place.
The next heart is made up of French Knots. Click here to brush up on your French Knotting skills. If you'd rather not (knot!) just stitch this one anyway you'd like instead.
I love making really fat French knots using all the strands at once. They look rather like sweetheart roses. Feel free to make more delicate ones if that's more your style.

Another easy one? This time cut the heart out of a bit of felted sweater (if you have it). Velvet or regular felt would work too.
Secure it by sewing a button atop.
Here's another easy one...cut a heart shape out of a printed fabric. Be sure to keep in the pink family for cohesiveness.
Layer it atop a bit of silk ribbon and secure it with a french knot.
Speaking of french knots, ready to do a bunch more? This time I used less floss. I made the outline of the heart, same as heart no. 10...
But this time I filled in the background.
That's a lot of french knots but just look at how chenille-like and fun it looks...

Next, let's take that satin stitch to the extreme...
covering the whole square, from side to side, with big fat stitches.
Stitch over the satin stitch base with a little heart.
You'll want to make all of your stitches vertical or they'll get lost in the satin stitches.

This next stitch is a nod to my cross-stitching youth. Make two rows of 5 "x" stitches in the middle of the square.
But ditch the rules of cross-stitching just a little and stagger the x's to make the humps. Think of them as little cheerleading pyramids!
Likewise, stagger a row of 3 under the bottom row of 5...
And decrease the stitches to make the bottom of the heart.
Add an itty bitty "x" at the bottom.
And last, but not least (are you tired of making hearts??!) Glue a bit of lace to a square of felt and cut out a heart, just like we did in square 1.

Next, we'll stitch the grid.

Work straight down the vertical lines first...
And then the horizontals. Stitch right over the patches in squares 5 and 7 that overlap the squares.
Next, pin the lace in place and sew it along the outside border.
The trick for the corners is to put a pin exactly at the corner and then pivot the lace into place (see image above).
Pretty just as it is, isn' it?
This part is always a little painful to me. Cut along the outside edge, underneath the lace border.
To finish this piece, we'll frame it using the reverse of the artist canvas to create a kind of shadow box.
Feel free to decorate the frame in any manner that you like, collaging, painting or even leaving it as is. I painted the canvas pink and the inner stretcher part with gesso.
I mitered the corners of velvet ribbon and glued it into place.
Ta-da!

Happy Valentine's Day, my friends!