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Fat Quarter Make; Heart Garland

Well seeing as it’s February and the month of love, I thought I’d make something Valentine’s themed for this month’s tutorial. This is a super quick and easy heart garland that can be used all year round or just brought out for a special occasion. It’s also a fantastic scrap buster – the hearts can even be stuffed with little fabric scraps too!

You will need:

  • Fabric fat quarters – iron these to get any creases/folds out
  • Paper/Card 
  • Ribbon and/or string 
  • Sewing machine with a universal needle
  • Thread
  • Hand sewing needle
  • Rotary cutter & cutting mat / Fabric scissors
  • Pins / Clips
  • Toy stuffing or fabric scraps

Remember to back stitch at the start and end each time you sew – this is essential to secure your stitches. 

I’ll be using a ½” seam allowance throughout, unless specified. 

  1. First we need to create a template – I simply free hand drew a heart onto a piece of paper and cut this out. It took me a couple of goes to get a shape I was happy with! You could also print out a heart shape to use if you prefer. Just remember to make it a bit larger than you want your final hearts to be, to account for seam allowance.
  1. Using your heart template, cut out as many fabric heart shapes as you want – I’m just going for 6 here (Which will create 3 fabric hearts). 
  1. Cut pieces of ribbon, approx 10” long, one for each finished heart you will create. 
  1. Take one piece of ribbon and fold it in half. Pin on the right side of a heart, with the raw edges in the middle at the top of the heart and the loop towards the inside. 
  1. Place another fabric heart on top of this one, right sides together, and pin to secure.
  1. Stitch around the outside, leaving a gap of 1.5-2” on one side. Repeat for remaining hearts. 
  1. On each heart, trim away the excess seam allowance and clip into the centre point of the heart (but don’t cut through the stitches).
  1. Turn the heart the right way out and use a tool to poke out the edges. Fill the heart with stuffing or small fabric scraps. Hand sew the gap closed. Repeat for the remaining hearts. 
  1. Now string your hearts on to a piece of string, ribbon or burlap – whatever you prefer or have handy!
  1. Your heart garland is finished – hang it somewhere beautifully and fill your room with love!

This tutorial can be adapted for different sizes of heart, different fabric types and of course you can make your garland as long or short as you wish – just make however many hearts you desire!

If you get stuck on any aspects of the tutorial, please feel free to send me a message and I’ll help. 

I hope you enjoy making your heart garlandl. Share your finished makes on instagram, using the hashtag #SewHayleyJaneFQ and tag me @sewn_on_the_tyne

See you next month,

Tamlyn xx