I wanted a design for the front of a knitting notebook and after doodling a few different ideas, I came up with this sweet heart. The embroidered chain stitch resembles knitting when they’re put right next to each other, so it was the obvious choice for a knitting notebook. Here are some instructions for making your own little heart!
Materials
-a tool to make small holes in paper; I use this Martha Stewart Screw Punch
-pencil
-about 3 yards of worsted weight yarn
-yarn needle that will fit through the holes you make
-graph paper (the paper I used is 5 squares per inch)
-card stock or whatever you want to embroider your design on
The Design
I used graph paper to plot out my design evenly. Place the graph paper with your design on the card stock where you want to place your stitches. Use the screw punch or awl to punch holes (you’ll want to put a self-healing cutting mat, or other board you don’t care about indenting, under your paper). The holes will aid you in keeping the chain stitches straight. If you are already an embroidery master, you can probably freehand them!
On the other hand, if you have never embroidered the chain stitch, I have outlined the steps below:
1. Bring about half of the yarn through the bottom center hole from back to front.
2. Go back through from front to back in the same space, but do not pull the yarn all the way through.
3. Come back up through the next hole up AND through the first loop you made.
4. Pull the yarn all the way through, tightening the first loop/stitch.
Repeat steps 2-4 for the embroidered chain stitch. I got into a habit of making two loops and using the second loop to tighten the first, like this:
At the end of the column (and the rest of the columns), finish the stitch by going down into the same hole, over the last loop, instead of through it, like this:
To make the next column, weave the yarn through the back of the stitches toward the bottom:
Work the next column and continue until all columns on this half of the heart are complete.
Weave in this end of the yarn through the back of the stitches:
Use the other half of the yarn to work the second half of the heart. Weave in your yarn when you’re done and that’s it!
Here is my [handmade] notebook:
I filled it with knitter’s graph paper and stitched it up by hand. That screw punch I linked above REALLY comes in handy for projects like this!
You could use this tutorial to make a lovely Valentine’s Day card! You can make other designs, as well, just be sure to have at least two dots per column when you are plotting it out on graph paper. I want to do a set of scissors! If I can come up with a few designs, I’ll make another post to share!
I want a tutorial on how you do your photography!! Amazing!!! :)
I Love it, will do it soon!!
Thank you for such a great idea , I can see this on scrapbook pages and on the front of my journal’s So super cute !
Adorable!
this is beautiful! thanks for sharing :)
Brilliant idea and gorgeous card and tutorial, I’m using it today to make my thankyou cards from Christmas (late eh?) do you mind if I put them in a post in my blog and link to this tutorial please love? Xxx
You are a goddess! This is an awesome idea that comes at a particularly apt time for me. Thank you so much for sharing. (((hugs)))
i love it, thanks for sharing.
Fab idea, cheers for sharing! Might try using an eyelet punch which rarely sees the light of day. Suz xxx
Thanks so much for letting me use your stitching idea on my glitter writing post http://frocktopus.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/glitter-writing-tutorial.html I got a bit carried away and made loads of lovely heart cards. Thanks again for the tutorial, brilliant idea xxx
Ooh I like this! Thanks for the great tutorial
I loved as muсh as you ԝill receive carried out riցht here.
The sketch iss tasteful, уоur authored subject matter stylish.
nonetһeless, уou command get bought ɑn edginess oѵer that you wish ƅᥱ
delivering the follօwing. unwell unquestionably сome more
formerly agaiin since еxactly thе sаme nearly a loot often insіde cɑse you shield
thiѕ increase.
Great work, from the color to the shape I really like it.
Cut a heart shape out of your fabric. The size is up to you, depending on what you’ll be using it for.
I am wondering how long it took you to finish the whole heart? Thank you for the idea! :)
With its user-friendly interface and customizable route options, you can start your journey from anywhere and navigate to your destination with ease. So why wait? Start exploring today with MapQuest Directions.