Try a design to stitch Hardanger.

The violets are from the chart My Wildroses.

My Wildroses

A Design for You

Below are directions for you to practice your Klosters and other stitches on the heart above. To understand Hardanger you must sew it. It is truly easier to do than explain. Remember that it was a technique developed by ordinary women to embellish their clothing and homes, if they had to read volumes before they stitched they probably never would have lifted a needle!

Please note that the links to the projects or topics are underlined, feel free to click on them and by clicking back in your& browser returning here. It's sort of like having a stitching dictionary at hand. Read through the instructions once and then come back and browse through the various links. As I said before, it's a lot harder to explain Hardanger than to sew Hardanger!

The Klosters of the Design

I finish all the embroidery before cutting any fabric threads.

Click here for a printable chart of the heart if you haven't already.

Use 32 or 28 count even weave fabric, use a fabric with large threads that create a full, close weave. I like to wash the sizing out of the fabric as the fabric threads puff up. Look at hand dyed fabrics as the dyers usually have to wash the fabric at least twice. Once to accept the dye and once to rinse out the extra dye.

Use perle cotton size 8 for the Klosters and perle size 8 and 12 cotton for the bars and a #24 or #26 tapestry needle. You might want to buy a package of the needles. Use one strand of cotton floss color DMC 156 or 340 for the violets Cross stitches over one fabric thread and DMC 501 or lighter for the leaves and stems, and one strand of DMC 3813 floss to Back stitch the stems.

After you finish all the embroidery on the heart shown at the top of this page cut the fabric threads that are marked on the chart with the gray lines. The reason I finish all the embroidery first is that I could pull out the cut threads as I stitch. Also read about how to use the scissors for a close cut that eliminates little stubs by clicking here .

After the fabric threads are cut weave or wrap the bars diagonally using the size 12 perle cotton. You will need to scroll down the page 'Beginning Hardanger' for the instructions on how to weave or wrap the bars.

Spider Spoke with Petals

In the top square of the Heart make a Spider Spoke with Petals . Please read about the topic by clicking on the underlined words.

For the left square I did a Buttonhole Filling stitch over the wrapped bars like that pictured below.

Work the Buttonhole Filling stitch from edge to edge of the square on the heart using the Klosters on the edges of the bars to hide the thread tails.

To make the Buttonhole Filling stitch bring the working thread out of the Klosters at the left of the Kloster box,

go over the wrapped bar at 1,
take the threaded needle over the bar at 2,
go under the bar at 3, but over the loop at 1-2,
go over the next bar at 1 and repeat these steps across the space.

To return to the left side of the space,

At 1 in the diagram above, take the threaded needle into the Kloster at a,
at b take the threaded needle under the Kloster,
at c take the threaded needle over the a-c thread,
at 2a take the threaded needle over the bar,
at b take it under the bar,
at c take it over the a-c thread,
at d take it under the bar, do this above the previous loop and repeat the steps 2a through d, until you reach the left side.

For the right Kloster box do not wrap or weave the bars before doing the Buttonhole Filling over the unwrapped bars.

Weave the bottom square with a Squared Eye filling and a Dove's Eye in the center of the square. Please click on the underlined wordsfor how to do these stitches. You will need to scroll down the page 'Beginning Hardanger' for the instructions on how to weave the bars. The Dove's Eye page gives good instructions for weaving on the diagonal and adding the filling stitch at the same time as you weave or wrap.

And if you really liked stitching Hardanger try another design .  I loved it and never seemed to stitch too many designs!

Finish the heart in a rectangular pillow or purchase my chart Heart Vine Case shown below. Then you could finish your heart like the Heart Vine scissor case. ©1999 Linda Fontenot www.AmericanFolkArts.com

Heart Vine Case	Portuese and Travel Companion