Simple DIY Embroidered Valentine’s Day Decoration

I realize that when the word embroidered is in a sentence, it is generally not with the word simple. That is not the case in this post. These two words can and do go hand in hand here. My daughter is 7 and super crafty. She has experimented with embroidering before (like these ornaments for Christmas and these door hangers for Easter). So, when I wanted to make a simple yet classic and timeless decoration for our home for Valentines Day, I asked her to help me.

Last year I bought a Shabby Chic frame on sale at Target and had never gotten around to using it. It was gorgeous but I didn’t have the “right” picture for it. I thought it would be perfect to frame a simple heart. A simple, embroidered heart. It is a look that I love.

C and I sat down and in under 30 minutes, the project was complete…start to finish and we are left with a decoration that I am sure we will take out every single year. Here’s how we did it:

Supplies: 
A small embroidery hoop (like this one)
Embroidery floss in assorted colors (I use DMC brand)
Embroidery needle
Scissors
White muslin or material
An old (or new) small picture frame.

All of these items can be bought at your local fabric store. 

Instructions: 

1. Take a large piece of your white muslin. You want it to be larger than the frame so that it fits in the embroidery hoop. Line it up with the area of the frame that will show. With a pencil, very lightly draw your design so that it fits easily in this area.
*You really only get one shot. You can’t erase it. So make sure to take your time, make it something simple, and plan it out.

2. Thread your embroidery floss. I used all six strands (the normal amount that comes in embroidery floss) but if you are doing something very intricate or just like the “thinner” look, you can use less.

3. Get started going over your light pencil lines using the back stitch. Here is a tutorial for it.

4. Continue embroidering until you have covered up everything that you traced. When you are done, tie off the string in a know and clip the excess string fairly short as you don’t want it to show through the material.

5. Cut your fabric down to the size of your frame (as you would a picture) and place it in. Sometimes it helps to use a piece of cardstock to tape it on just so it looks flat.

You’re done. You have a beautiful Valentine’s craft filled with memories in under 30 minutes!