Hands Across the Sea - Dancing With Your Heart

A printed booklet by Hands Across the Sea Samplers

We are delighted to present to you an original design. Dancing With Your Heart was inspired by a sampler in Nicola’s private collection and has been designed as a small sampler that can be framed. With dancers swirling across our linen, we asked Faye Riggsbee (Carolina Stitcher) to finish the little design as a drum.

Although we do not provide finishing instructions for a drum, we have included additional graphs for a drum top and tambourine. There are many excellent videos on YouTube that demonstrate how to construct and finish a drum.

The stitches used in the design are cross stitch over two threads of linen, back stitch or double running stitch, and French knots. Small beads could be used instead of French knots. The little sampler was stitched with a palette of fifteen colours from DMC. We have provided a conversion for Soie d’Alger from Au Ver à Soie. The sampler was stitched using 37ct Legacy Linen in Wild Honey. The design is suitable for stitching on Aida, Linaida, or linen. We recommend that you should use a count and fabric that you enjoy working with.

Thread Legend

The little sampler was stitched with a palette of fifteen colours from DMC. We have provided a conversion for Soie d’Alger from Au Ver à Soie. You will only require one skein of each colour.

DMC /  Soie d’Alger  ~ Colour Description

029 /  5115  ~ Eggplant

310 /  Noir  ~ Black

347 /  2645  ~ Salmon ~ very dark

597 /  1723  ~ Turquoise

730 /  2226   ~ Olive green ~ very dark

733 /  2224  ~ Olive green ~ medium

829 /  3745  ~ Golden olive ~ very dark

832 /  524  ~ Golden olive

890 /  1836  ~ Pistachio green ~ ultra dark

924 /  1746  ~ Grey green ~ very dark

927 /  2756  ~ Grey green ~ light

950 /  S2928  ~ Desert sand ~ light

3712 /  4622  ~ Salmon ~ medium

3776 /  4543  ~ Mahogany ~ light

3855 /  4223  ~ Autumn gold ~ light

Linen Sizes

The sampler was stitched using 37ct Legacy Linen in Wild Honey. The design is suitable for stitching on Aida, Linaida, or linen. We recommend that you should use a count and fabric that you enjoy working with.

The design area for the sampler is 106 stitches (w) x 116 stitches (h). Our calculations have included a 2″ margin for finishing as a drum.

14ct Aida/28ct linen: Design: 14.86″ x 6.07″ Fabric: 18.86″ x 10.07″

16ct Aida/32ct linen: Design: 13.00″ x 5.31″ Fabric: 17.00″ x 9.31″

18ct Aida/36ct linen: Design: 11.56″ x 4.72″ Fabric: 15.56″ x 8.72″

20ct Aida/40ct linen: Design: 10.4″ x 4.25″ Fabric: 14.4″ x 8.25″

Two sides are required to make one tambourine. The design area of one side is 15 stitches (w) x 15 stitches (h). Each side requires a 2” margin for finishing. The sizes given below are for one side of the tambourine.

14ct Aida/28ct linen: Design: 1.07″ x 1.07″ Fabric: 5.07″ x 5.07″

16ct Aida/32ct linen: Design: 0.94″ x 0.94″ Fabric: 4.94″ x 4.94″

18ct Aida/36ct linen: Design: 0.83″ x 0.83″ Fabric: 4.83″ x 4.83″

20ct Aida/40ct linen: Design: 0.75″ x 0.75″ Fabric: 4.75″ x 4.75″

The design area for the drum top is 51 stitches (w) x 51 stitches (h). The top requires a 2” margin for finishing.

14ct Aida/28ct linen: Design: 3.64″ x 3.64″ Fabric: 7.64″ x 7.64″

16ct Aida/32ct linen: Design: 3.19″ x 3.19″ Fabric: 7.19″ x 7.19″

18ct Aida/36ct linen: Design: 2.83″ x 2.83″ Fabric: 6.83″ x 6.83″

20ct Aida/40ct linen: Design: 2.55″ x 2.55″ Fabric: 6.55″ x 6.55″