Karla's Bird Song art retreat is coming up fast, and I want to have some goodies to add to the tote bags we made last month.
I started making these little "bee-hearts" and as I finished each one, I put it in this white wooden bowl. Whenever I make more than one thing, I like to line up all my "creations" so I can look at them and get a... a... a sense of accomplishment- yes, that's what it is.
Dear Hubby saw them and asked what they were. I said "Are you asking me why I'm sewing hearts out of a dirty coffee stained towel?" He said "No, I think they look nice".
I'm not quite done with them, but I thought maybe you'd like a quick tutorial on making them- they are pretty simple, you can probably just LOOK at them and figure it out- but I think there are so many possible variations that maybe they'd inspire you to make one...or a bowlful.
I used a wooden craft heart and a pencil to trace a heart on my fabric. I know they make special pencil for drawing on fabric, but I didn't have one, and I've got kind of a dirty look going on anyway so, I wasn't too worried about it.
The fabric I used is a heavy dish towel. Remember when I was coffee dying all those lace bags? This is the towel that I used to blot the bags and clean up any spills. Even after repeated washings, it still had an uneven coffee stain look to it- I thought it was perfect for this project.
Layer the fabric with the traced heart on top of another piece of fabric and start stitching. I suggest starting your stitching in the lower right hand corner because it will make stuffing the heart easier later on. I used three strands of embroidery floss. and my stitches are about 1/4" long.
Keep stitching around your heart until you get to about 1 1/2" - 2" from where you started.
You don't have to cut or tie off your thread- just leave it on the needle.
Using pinking shears, cut about 1/2" outside your stitching.
Note: If you decide to make more than one heart, assembly line style- don't do all your pinking in one step. Maybe I just have bad pinkers, but I thought it was HARD- and I have blisters to prove it. Definitely take a break in between pinking your hearts.
Now, if you want, stamp a little design on your heart.
Now your ready to use that little gap in stitching to fill your heart with fiberfill.
I swear, a bag of this can last me forever- I take a few handfuls out, put the bag back in the closet, and the bag is full the next time I go to use it. It must grow while it's in the closet.
Stuff your heart and pick up your already threaded needle and finish your stitching.
Then, go make another one. And another one....
I think these would be nice as sachets with lavender, but just like an invisible sewing pencil, I didn't have any, so I just went with what I had.
I did try some variations- plain white cotton with blue thread, tea stained with a button, satin with a mother of pearl button and a bit of lace over a damask napkin.
Other ideas- sew on a ribbon for hanging, embroider a name, use to tie on a package, pastel hearts in an Easter basket... any other ideas?
