Embroidery has always held a special place in my heart. It’s a technique I return to again and again, whether I’m collecting vintage pieces, developing new designs, or creating books that celebrate the beauty and storytelling power of stitches. This simple embroidery project is inspired by my book, Love You to Pieces: a Gift of Friendship. We stitched it into a pincushion using my Treasured Threadz Postage Stamp Retro faux patchwork fabric panel. I am providing you a printable PDF with both right-facing and mirrored versions of the design, giving you the flexibility to choose the custom transfer or trace method, whichever works best for your fabric. Access the PDF at the end of this post and create-your-own iron on transfer or trace the design.

This technique is great for creating a precise design before applying the design to fabric. Using a transfer pencil or pen, trace the mirror image of the design. Once traced, iron the design to your fabric following the manufacturer’s instructions. I rely on my trusty M3 Pro Oliso iron to get great results every time — it gets to a high temperature quickly and is a great size for small projects. Drawing the design on tracing paper allows you to refine your design before it ever touches your fabric. Check out the Create Your Own Transfer Kit from my partner Colonial Patterns.

The right-facing version of the design can be traced directly onto fabric using a light box and a pencil or water-soluble marker or the Air Erasable Marker by Clover. Pictured are the Tomato and Bubble Gum Color Dyed Flour Sack Towels from my ABC Collection which is also available from Colonial Patterns.The towels make a wonderful foundation fabric for embroidery projects like this. Depending on the thread I use, many times I stitch without a hoop.

TIP: Tracing works best on light to medium-weight fabrics where the design can easily be seen through the fabric.

When I stitched the Love You To Pieces in redwork, I backed the white fabric with my Favorite Fusible Batting. This thin fleece gave an opaque and sturdy foundation to stitch through – no hoop required! The border fabric shown is my Treasured Threadz® faux patchwork panel, Postage Stamp Retro. We added hand quilting after backing the fabric with my Favorite Fusible Batting. Both products are available at quilt shops or online at colonialpatterns.com. For more about this technique and the heart ornament pictured, visit the Heart to Art Ornament Post.

Be sure to register to receive the Stitch Love You to Pieces embroidery design to create your own embroidered gift or keepsake.

If you enjoy embroidery, you may also love my book Land That I Love: Customize and Embroider Projects for Your State. Use the techniques from this post to create a one-of-a-kind design with your state, schools and landmarks.

Let me be your guide to unique and inspiring projects. Sign up for my newsletter for exclusive discounts and promotions + 20% off your next order. Follow along and connect with me here:

Happy stitching,
Amy