Fabric Hearts

Catherine Kline Postcard

Using the card stock pattern from the original heart post, you can make fabric hearts with loops to hang or place them in a bowl as pretty give-aways at your next tea. They can also be scented by spraying a vanilla or cinnamon room spray from Dollar Tree on the filler just before you sew up the opening

With right sides of fabric together, put the cardboard template in place and draw a pencil line around it. Then, cut a fourth to a half inch larger, as you see here, marking two places on the straight side of the heart, where you will leave an opening.

Back stitch to secure the stitching, and then go all the way around the heart, pivoting at the points, until you get to the other mark. Back stitch and forward stitch again to secure it. Clip little wedges on the curved areas to make it smoother when you turn it inside out.  This can easily be hand stitched.

Turn the heart so that the right sides with the pretty print is out, and press out the points and curves and seams with the tips of your scissors. gently. If you prefer, you can press the heart with the iron before the next step.This is a new spring cotton from Walmart. Click on for a larger view. I have already cut a dress from it, and hope it won't take me another year to get it sewn!

This picture is blurry, but I am trying to show you that you can press down the opening one fourth inch, even with the sewn seam, on the opening, with a hot iron. It will make it easier to stitch it together.

This is what it will look like after you press it. By taking the first stitch inside the heart and pulling through the seam on the outside, you can hide the knotted end. Then, overcast or use a buttonhole type stitch. I use a special invisible way of stitching openings, but any stitch will be fine, and if you use matching thread, the stitching will not show.

Now fill it with the fiberfill or cotton or wool or whatever you want to use. If you do not have stuffing, you can substitute something else such as cotton balls or fabric scraps.

This one is made from fleece fabric. Some sources say that when doors had keyholes, little pillows like this were hung on the inside the door to cover the keyhole, for privacy and warmth. I have seen some very nice heart pillows with keys attached to them, on various blogs this season. 

I found this lovely pin cushion at JoAnn Fabrics. If you do not intend to use your 40 or 50% coupon for any large item, you can always buy something like this.

The pincushion has a solid bottom and the pins are pink and white. I have a couple of pin-cushion tutorials here, if you want to make your own. You can order graphite from the web to fill it with, which sharpens your pins and needles.

 This is some new cotton fabric I found at JoAnns. I got a yard of it and I really like the feel of it. It is very soft but closely woven. I would sure like to get more of it. I am not sure what I will use it for, but like all fabriholics, it is just nice to have it in a little stack with other samples, to look at.

Beginner Hand Sewing: Simple-to-Make Pin Cushion

I am now making a few things for sewing equipment, such as pincushions, needle cases, scissor case and thread container.  This pin cushion is much easier than the one in the previous post.

The check fabric is commonly called gingham, and some types are the same on the back as on the front, so you will not need to worry about the right or wrong side of the fabric. However, if you get the cotton check,  the wrong side will be more faded and you will need to remember to sew it with the right sides facing each other, before turning it inside out.

Using two pieces of fabric, arrange it as straightly as you can together.  Place a piece of cardboard,  cut from a cereal box or anything you have,(approximately 4 x 4 inches) on the fabric, matching the edges to the lines of the check print, and draw away from the edge of the cardboard about a half an inch or an inch, following the lines on the check. Click on for a closer view.

Cut out on that line you drew that is a half inch larger than your piece of cardboard. You can make a square or a rectangle, any size you want, from your cardboard.

Once you have cut that out, trace around the actual cardboard piece with your pencil as you see, above.

It should look something like this. Remember you have two layers of fabric.

Beginning at one end of the piece, sew one fourth inch away from the drawn line. It does not have to be exactly that much, but you cannot sew on the line, because it will make it too small to insert the cardboard. 

Sew three sides, leaving one end open for stuffing.

 Turn the piece inside out and carefully push out the corners with your scissors.

Now insert your cardboard. This is necessary to keep the pins and needles from going clear through the pin cushion and hurting your hands or damaging a table or surface where it put.

Stuff it firmly, with as much stuffing as will fit and still be able to close the opening.

Push the stuffing into the corners with your scissors.

Fold over the ends to the inside, one fourth inch, and pin. 

If you find that there is not enough fabric on that open end to fold over, you might have to pull out the cardboard and trim it a little.  Put it back inside the cushion, fold over the hem, and pen it. Stitch with a regular running stitch, or an over-cast stitch.

When it is finished, manipulate it with your hands to even out the filling.

You can also use a pin cushion to secure your buttons while you are sewing.

If you have any scraps of trim, you can use it on something like this. Just stitch in and out of the spaces on fancy trim like this, and secure the ends by making several stitches in the same place.  You might need some clear tape to prevent unravelling on some trims, but the needle will go right through it easily.

Sew a little satin rose on it for decoration, and put on some pins and buttons that match the cloth.  You can make your own satin ribbon roses, but that might have to be  a later post.