I wanted to create valentines day themed designs at the start of Februdary and what else represent love better than a heart shape, right? So, that was the goal of the project and this was the first attempt at it.
I wanted to use the french knots since they look like tiny roses. However, while drawing the heart shape, my lines went a bit off, and the lines you see at the bottom and the upper left were a way to make it up. I decided to fill them up with light pink colour give a shadow effect.
So, this is how the design came out in the starting.
Well, it wasn’t too bad but not the best either. However, I decided to keep going and filled in the rest of the red part. Filling up row by row gave a great finish and I loved that part. You see, this project is more of learning than perfection. So, that line by line structure is something I wish to repeat in other projects.
In the middle of the project I understood the misalignment between the reds and the baby pinks. That is, the centre of the heart shape with red colour is at a different place than the actual centre of the shape. So, I decided to draw a line in the middle with the french knots and follow the rows around it.
Well, further down the lane, the red shade I was using got over and then I had to go with a darker shade. So, this is how it turned out at the end. It’s just alright. But, I experimented with a lot of styles when it comes to french knots in this project. I’ll share a few here.
Designing with French Knots
French knots are made with loops around the needle and the number of loops gives a very different result. For example, the baby pink french knots are mostly french knots with single loops. They form a smaller knot and in my pattern it is smaller because of the number of threads used. You can use any number of threads while doing embroidery and the results vary in terms of thickness.
On a closer look, I also figured the way you go around also make a difference in the appearance of the knots. For example, see these pink ones and the red ones. One look like a knot and the other look like a tiny flower.
This is majorly because of the type of pressure I applied and where I placed the next knot which essentially pulled the thread to make enough tension. Everywhere I went diagonally, the flowers were more upright and looked better. I don’t think I’m good at explaining it in words, but maybe I can create videos on this.
My favourite is french knot with two loops. This is when you wrap the threads twice before taking the needle through it. It forms a great shape of roses and gives a good thickness as well. Here are some of the two looped french knots. The ones with three wraps or loops turned out to be a mess in this pattern.
Patterns and Future Creations
Once I finished this one, I decided to create a better pattern for the next time and that includes just colour grading. Here’s a sample for the pattern and if anyone is interested, I can share the final pattern PDF for different hoop sizes. The one I used here is a 6 inch one.
Alright, that was the first one to finish this month and even though it is not the best, I decided to try out how to close the hoops properly before gifting someone. As you can see, some of the thread came up peeping out and it just gave me enough ideas about what all needs to be checked before packing. I am planning to close the hoops with felt sheet and stitches at the back. So, this is how the hoop looks at the end.
I’ll see you with my next work!
Bye!