Making a Fabric Heart Garland

I bought some scraps of fabric from eBay a while back with the intention of doing something with them! So after some Googling i decided to make a heart garland and a heart door hanger which you have seen here on the recent cupboard door makeover.

 

So I started with the above desk-full-of-stuff:

1. A pack of plastic heart shaped cookie cutters

2. A whole load of fabric scraps (bought from eBay for £1)

3. Garden twine- 65p from Wilkinson's

4. Haberdashery scissors (these are sharper than regular scissors i think!)

5. A marker pen (not a felt tip pen but not a Biro- a sort of hybrid of the 2)

6. A selection of needles (large ones) and yarn

7. Some ribbon- bought from a local market for 29p

You also need some cushion wadding- I just cut open an old cushion and used what was in that!

 I started by taking one of the cookie cutters and outlining it on the fabric with the marker (on the side which would be sewn as the inside):

Do the same for both pieces of fabric which you are using and then cut both out using some sharp scissors- it really does help if they are sharp:

Then you want to sew the two pieces together -what i realised from practise it's a lot easier to hold the 2 pieces together with pins whilst you sew. You can use any method of sewing- like sewing on the inside and turning it out or i sewed round the edges as per the below (i have no idea for the names of these stitches!!):

I have used a twine coloured yarn which is thicker than ordinary cotton which i had in my craft box from something similar i did at Christmas. When you have sewn 3/4 of the way round stuff the heart with the wadding;  I used a crochet needle (blunt end) to help push all the stuffing in:

 

Then sew all the way round and knot the end of the yarn off. Use the scissors to trim any excess and any fraying of the fabric to make it look neat:

 

So then i used exactly the same method to make a few more hearts some in different sizes so i ended up with this:

Measure out the garden twine to the length needed and then take the largest needle you have and thread the twine. Once the twine is threaded through the needle then you want to thread it through each heart like so:

Carry on and thread through all hearts (some fabric is harder than others to get the needle through!) until they are all threaded. Then you can slide the hearts as needed up and down as needed on the twine

 

Then you are done! Hang on mantle piece, head board or shelf like i have done! I actually removed some of the hearts from mine to make it fit the space

I used exactly the same process to make a door hanger for my under-the-stairs cupboard door handle. I just used a bigger heart template and used some satin ribbon (sewn on the top of the heart) to make the hook.

You can also use the hearts to make key rings- just add a piece of ribbon to the top- loop round a keyring thingy and sew to the heart- that's what i did with one of the small hearts left over from the garland.

Just for an experiment I added the door hanger i made to sell on eBay and was pretty surprised when it sold straightaway for £4! It only took me 10 minutes to make another one- but I don't think i'll be giving up my day job just yet!