Martyn and Verity are good friends who got married in 2014. Verity designed her own beautiful invitations which had the novelty factor of being a never ending folding card.

The primary motif was this heart design.

I created a pattern incorporating this heart, the names of the bride and groom, the date and the last line of one of the readings – A lovely love story by Edward Monkton. I began with a more traditional layout pictured below.

But I wasn’t entirely happy with it as I didn’t think it matched the couple. Then unbelievably I had a dream about the perfect layout and this is the final design.

I made the heart the centre of the design, put the text of the reading around the outside with little cross-stitch hearts at each corner and then placed the names vertically rather than hortizontally.

I used a 32 count pearl flecked linen fabric, and quality DMC threads – a pure black thread for the names/date and a bright red with a satin finish for the rest of the stitching. I began with the heart in the centre and used a long embroidery stitch to follow the lines mimicking the original design. Next I stitched the names either side of the central heart and then moved on to the text on the border.

When the stitching was complete I hand washed and gently ironed the piece then took it to a professional framer who stretched the fabric and used a white mount with black edges and a black frame to complement the design.