2009 Advent blog-a-long | day 12

Woven Fabric Hearts

Inspired by a couple of the paper woven heart decorations I pulled out of the 'made by the kids' decorations box, I had a go at making a fabric version. I love how they turned out. They look gorgeous hanging on a door handle or the tree - especially if they match the colours of your tree - which, as you can see, mine doesn't!, or they would make gorgeous tags to tie onto your gifts.

I think the paper versions, which I have also seen made to be like little baskets, are a traditional Swedish (?) decoration.

This is how I made my fabric version.

Step 1

Draw up a template using the guide at the end of this post. and trace two copies onto the paper side of Vliesofix.

Step 2

From two contrasting fabrics cut 4 rectangles ( 2 from each fabric) large enough for the template to be affixed to.

Step 3

Iron the Vliesofix to the wrong side of one of the fabric pieces and trim around the solid line, including the cutting lines going up into the centre. Step 4

Peel off the paper backing, carefully position the piece, glue side onto the wrong side of the matching fabric and iron. Trim. Repeat with the contrasting fabric.

Step 5

Machine or hand stitch along each side of the cuts - this is optional and is only for looks, you could easily skip this step if you wanted to simplify the process.

Step 6

Lay the two pieces down and begin weaving the strips together to form the heart.

Continue until all the pieces are woven correctly. (as you can see this heart doesn't yet have the stitching added)

Step 7

Place a few pins in your heart to help hold it together. Add a ribbon loop to the top and top stitch around the heart, making sure to catch the ends of your ribbon loop.

Step 8
You could hang your heart as it is, or add a few buttons to embellish it a little further. Find somewhere to display your woven fabric heart!

clicking on the following template should enlarge it. The graph paper squares are 5mm (for those working in metric) For the quilters and those working in inches, the dotted line indicates a rectangle approx 2 1/2" x 4 1/4" - these could easily be made from jelly rolls or scraps.