The Un-Valentine

I update this sign on my door with the seasons. And I thought it would be cute to put up something for Valentine’s Day.

So I shopped around some of my favorite machine embroidery sites, looking for a charming Valentine’s Day design.

I was confronted by a trashy array of cupcakes, lips and kissing pigs. (OK, I know some of you would love the kissing pigs.) But it’s not what I was looking for at all.

And the hearts .So many hideous hearts. Big, ugly, hearts with loads of swirls and ornation. Gathered in multiples, in solid colors, outlines, curving, distorted, nouveau, deco, modern, punk, angry, broken, baroque, and dipped in gnomes.

I hated it all.

Truly, this is a message to all machine embroidery designers: You can do better on Valentine’s Day.

I would have settled for one of those vintage red trucks with a load of flowers and sweets…tastefully done, with some script. Or how about all the charming old school Valentine’s from the forties? Wouldn’t it be cute to have a line of those in embroidery? Or how about those old Victorian Valentine’s Day cards? Tell me you couldn’t create some designs that played off of those? Or anything cozy? After all, we’re still in the dead of winter.

Anything other than the selection that’s available now. Which is gag-worthy.

And I say that with love in my heart for artists and designers.

So after all of that, I settled on a design that barely hints of Valentine’s Day, but is warm, inviting and sweet. And it will look just as good on February 15 as it does right now. In fact, it will even carry into spring.

It’s a bit stitch heavy, but looks great against the black.

Here’s a link to the design.

I did the design on black Kraft-tex, which is surprisingly good at supporting machine embroidery. The trick is to use two layers of cutaway stabilizer.

I still have to figure out how to create a Valentine for my husband this year. Sadly, it won’t likely be machine embroidery, though I had hoped to find something charming. I thought about the kissing pigs, and then decided against an off-color joke about our pandemic weight gains.

I have other tricks up my sleeve, though.

So carry on, sewists. Surround yourselves with bright colors and whatever helps get you through the day.

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