Red lips on white or cream fabric, built entirely from small individual hearts fitted together. From a normal viewing distance it just reads as a pair of full lips, get close and you see each segment is its own little heart stitched at a different angle to its neighbours so there are no flat dead zones. Then off to the left side a scatter of smaller hearts floats loose, like the lips just exhaled them, some barely thumbnail-sized and some a bit bigger.
One colour only, every stitch is the same red thread, and yet it doesnt feel flat. The fill direction on each heart segment shifts enough that the light catches differently across the surface, giving the lips that puffy dimensional look without needing any shading thread at all. Its a clever use of fill angle to do work that people usually use multiple colours for.
Density sits at 913 stitches per square inch, which is high. At the biggest size, 3.68 by 7.51 inches, youre looking at just over 25k stitches in a single thread colour with no stops. Slow your machine down 15 to 20 percent and use a medium-weight cutaway on any stretch base fabric. On stable woven cotton a firm tearaway works fine. Skip the topping unless your fabric has a heavy pile, since single colour means any topping residue shows up more than usual after washing.
People put this on Valentine tote bags, lingerie pouches, makeup bags, tees and sweaters for February. Buyers keep coming back to this one around Valentines, last year one customer stitched twelve of the small version on individual felt hearts and sewed them into a garland for a shop window display. Works on black, white, cream, blush pink, or deep navy. Red-on-red sounds wrong but match a darker or lighter red to the base and it creates a tonal effect thats actually great. Dm the shop if the segment fills overlap at the join lines and Ill shift the start point.
What people are using this design for
A starting point. The design works for plenty more than just this list, this is what folks have stitched it onto most.
- Valentine tote bag front panel placementCenter the 6-inch on a black canvas tote for a bold no-fuss Valentine bag that still works after February
- Makeup bag or cosmetic pouch outside panelStitch the 4-inch on a small zippered makeup bag and give it as part of a Valentine beauty kit
- Cushion cover for a Valentine or bedroom stylingUse the 5-inch centred on a black velvet cushion cover for a dramatic bedroom styling piece that looks expensive against dark fabric
- Black cotton sweatshirt chest placementPlace the 4-inch on the left chest of a black crewneck sweatshirt where the red-on-black contrast does most of the work
- Lingerie drawstring pouch or gift sachetEmbroider on a small cream organza pouch, pull the drawstring with a red ribbon, and use it as a Valentine gift sachet
- Wall-hung hooped art for a dressing table displayHoop pale blush linen, stitch the 6-inch, frame it, and hang it as a permanent tongue-in-cheek art piece
- Denim jacket back panel or upper sleeve placementPut the 5-inch on the upper back of a denim jacket where the tight satin surface reads beautifully against the indigo weave
- Tee shirt front for a February birthday outfitStitch the 4-inch on the front of a fitted white tee for a February birthday look that doesnt need any other decoration
Dimensions
5 sizes included. Stitch counts shown for the largest colorway.
| Size (in) | Stitches |
|---|---|
| 1.72 × 3.51 in | 10,165 |
| 2.21 × 4.51 in | 13,419 |
| 2.70 × 5.51 in | 17,001 |
| 3.19 × 6.51 in | 20,960 |
| 3.68 × 7.51 in | 25,222 |
Files & Formats
Eight machine formats included in one zip. Whichever your machine reads, its in the pack.
Plus a color chart for thread matching. See full format guide.
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About the artist
Reyazul Masud Riham, hand-drawing every design on this site
Every design on Re Embroidery is hand-digitized by one person. Each file gets sketched, color-matched, and stitch-tested on real fabric before it earns a place in the shop. No team. No auto-conversion from images. Just slow, deliberate work, sometimes three or four days per design.
That's the joy I work for.
The hard part is finding my designs re-uploaded and resold elsewhere. So when you buy from Re Embroidery, you're paying one real person for the file you're about to download. That matters.
