Hearts for a February Home Pattern

Hearts, 28” x 21”. Appliquéd, embroidered, and hooked with #8-cut wool. Designed by Rebekah L. Smith, hooked by Cindy Sullivan, 2017.

This project is all about blending. It was inspired by the idea that you could take two different styles of wool work and put them together to create a unified piece. While hooking and wool appliqué have been combined before, I wanted to go in a different direction by lifting the appliqué to balance out the finished piece.

Hearts are one of my favorite motifs, and I felt they were a good place to start. They are simple and can be used in an endless variety of ways. As the appliquéd hearts take center stage, the hooking is by no means secondary. It is important that you have a striking background. In this piece, we used hand-dyed wools for movement and dimension. My good friend Cindy Sullivan did all of the hooking on this project.

MAKE YOUR FREEZER-PAPER PATTERNS:

First of all, you need to make your patterns from freezer paper. Be sure to trace the design on the dull side of the freezer paper. The wax side is what you will need to stick to the wool.

1. Trace the patterns onto the freezer paper.
2. Cut out completely each freezer paper pattern.
3. Warm up your iron on the “wool” setting.
4. Place your freezer paper patterns on the corresponding wools, shiny wax side against the wool.
5. Press the patterns to the wool with your iron, holding briefly to allow the freezer paper to stick.
6. Cut out the wool shapes around the patterns.
7. Peel the freezer paper patterns from the wool.

STITCHING YOUR PROJECT:

There are several stitches used on this project: the blanket stitch, outline stitch, whip stitch, cross stitch, and French knot. There are a lot of useful books and Internet sources for these stitches where you can find instructions on how to make them. This project used DMC floss, which comes with six strands. It is best to cut your threads to lengths of 16″ to 18″; then divide these threads into pairs of two strands each. You will stitch with two strands used together.

STITCHING:

1. Draw the pattern on the linen. You will only need to draw the outline of the wool appliqué pieces—this will be your placement guide.
2. Using the blanket stitch, appliqué the first layer of wool pieces to the linen. Leave a small 1 1/2″ opening on each of these so that you can fill the shapes with fiberfill. Work enough fiberfill under each piece so that it feels just full, but not packed tight.
3. Stitch the 1 1/2″ opening closed in each wool piece.
4. Stitch down the second layer of appliqué pieces.
5. Add any embellishment stitches you like.
6. Turn the finished appliquéd piece on the wrong side on your ironing surface and press with a steam iron on the wool setting.

BASIC HOOKING TECHNIQUES:

Hook around the appliqued pieces with #8-cut wool strips. Hook right up to the edges of the appliquéd design, covering all of the linen backing. Start hooking around the center motifs and work out toward the edges. Follow the photo for color guidance, or design your own colors to match your décor.

FINISHING THE PIECE:

1. Steam press the entire rug.
2. Cut 1/4″ strips from the green, dark brown, red, and mustard wools.
3. Using the darning needle, whip stitch the wool strips around the edge of the rug.
4. Turn the rug on the wrong side and steam press the edges flat with your iron on the wool setting.
5. Blanket stitch the outer edge of the dark brown backing wool.
6. Pin the finished rug securely to the backing wool.
7. Using the dark brown floss #3371, carefully whip stitch the rug to the backing wool along the edge.

CHECK THIS OUT:

MATERIALS FOR WOOL APPLIQUÉ:

• Light brown (long narrow heart motif, 2 small leaf centers, 1 small heart)
• Mustard (2 small hearts, 2 large hearts, 2 half heart centers)
• Red (2 small hearts, 2 large hearts, 2 leaf centers)
• Dark brown (long narrow heart motif, 1 small heart, 2 half heart centers)
• Green (4 leaves, 4 half heart centers)
• Dark Brown (backing)

Wool for Hooking:

• Browns: 3/4 yd.
• Reds: 3/4 yd.
• Greens: 1/8 yd.
• Mustards: 1/2 yd.

Other Materials:

• Hooking linen: 26” x 32”
• DMC floss:  #841, #869, #3371
• Needle: #24 chenille
• Fiberfill
• Freezer paper
• Steam iron
• Darning needle