Love & wedding embroidery designs

Hearts, rings and dates

This category gathers the motifs of a love story. Heart designs range from simple solid hearts to hearts with arrows and patterned fills. Wedding designs bring rings, doves and floral frames for ring bearer pillows and handkerchiefs, and anniversary designs add frames for dates and years together.

For floral wreaths with room for a name inside, see the floral wreath and frame designs. Anniversaries come back every year, so keep the files: next time you only change the date.

Make it personal

A heart on its own is sweet; a heart with two initials and a date is a keepsake. Build names, initials and dates in the monogram maker, then stitch them in the same hooping as the motif, below it or inside a frame. Match the thread colors to the wedding palette too: the thread chart on each design page lists the colors in sewing order, so swapping red for blush or green for sage is easy.

Fabrics, thread and hoop care

• Satin and silky fabrics, such as ring bearer pillows: float them on hooped adhesive tear-away, since a hoop can leave a shiny ring on satin.
• Linen and cotton handkerchiefs: a wash-away stabilizer, because both sides are seen.
• Cotton pillowcases: a tear-away, hooping only the top layer.
• Canvas totes for the bridal party: a tear-away and a sharp needle, with the motif above each name.
• Velvet or minky keepsake pillows: a water-soluble topping keeps the stitches above the pile.
• Thread: rayon for sheen on keepsakes that are rarely washed, polyester for linens that go through the laundry.

When to start

Valentine's Day gifts are best started in January, so they are not rushed in the last week. Wedding gifts need a few weeks: buy the fabric early, do a test stitch-out and leave time to wash out markings and press. These love and wedding embroidery designs also suit engagement gifts, bridal showers and presents for Valentine's Day.