Winter White Hearts Tutorial

Valerie Lloyd is the creator of the Smile Mercantile shop on Etsy.  Her beautiful vintage-inspired designs caught my attention right away! Valerie has made a special tutorial just for Fabrics-store.com’s Chronicle.  Today, she will show us how to make her Winter White Hearts using linen.  This is a great craft for holiday season!

More about Valerie’s shop:

"The Smile Mercantile was born from a desire to share my enthusiasm with like-minded people. Many of the items that I sell often retain traces of their pasts: rust, wear, scars of daily use. I also include items that I have made by hand that recall a historical sense of beauty."

Winter White Hearts by Valerie.

These plush linen heart and twine ornaments add a rustic simplicity to holiday décor, and make great gifts for the ones you love.   It’s an easy-sew project, and the results are very gratifying.  For these hearts I’m using a beautiful ivory linen, but you can use almost any fabric or remnant that you like.

Materials:

• Ivory Linen
• Jute Twine
• StuffingNeedle & Thread
• 1 Sheet of Paper or Cardstock

Step 1:

The first step is to use paper or cardstock to create a good heart-shaped template.  Fold a 5 ½ inch square sheet of paper in half, and crease well.  I like to trace halfway around a drinking glass to get the top of the heart shape nice and round, and then freehand the rest down to the bottom of the paper.

Cut out the shape you’ve drawn, and unfold.  Snip off the pointy tip of the heart so that the template has a flat bottom (this will reduce bulk in the point of the sewn hearts.)

Step 2:

Use your template to cut out two identical hearts out of your fabric.  If you are using a fabric with a pattern or face, put right sides together.  Sew around the edge of the heart, leaving about a 1 ½ inch opening  on one of the less curvy areas of the heart.  A 1/4 – 3/8  inch seam allowance works nicely.  Clip the curves to reduce bulk.

Turn the sewn heart right side out, and press.

Step 3:

Stuff the heart to your liking.  I prefer to use just enough stuffing to fill out the form and give it dimension.  Use a needle and thread to close the opening in the side.

Step 4:

Cut a 30 inch length of jute twine.  Make a 4 inch loop in the center, and tie a knot.  This is the hanging loop.  Use the tails below the knot to tie a bow.  Cut a second length of twine about 20 inches long.  Use this piece to tie a bow the same size as the one you made on the loop.  Lay this bow over the first, and use a needle and thread to sew them together.  (I use thread that matches the twine for this step.)

Leave the needle and thread attached.  Sew the double bow and loop to the center of the heart, pushing one bow to one side, and one bow to the other.  You’re done!

The ornaments can be embellished with buttons, embroidery, or appliques.  I like to keep them crisp and simple to show off their beautiful forms and textures.

*You can find these hearts for sale along with the rest of my handmade holiday collection in my Etsy shop: www.smilemercantile.etsy.com.