Shabby Chic Heart Garland - Tutorial

These hanging hearts make the perfect 'shabby chic' decoration, I have several around my flat, adorning book shelves and picture rails.  They make great presents, my favourite so far are the red and cream set I gave my mum for christmas (http://amz-afewofmyfavouritethings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/decorating-new-house.html). I have seen similar decorations in shops for £15-£20. I will show you here how to make this garland in a few hours for just a couple of £'s!!

You will need: 

• Two pieces of different material of your choice (To keep costs down look for off cuts in your local haberdashery or secondhand fabric in charity shops) 
• Plain fabric for backing (I used a piece of white cotton from an old pillowcase)
• Twine (about £1 in local craft shop or garden shop) 
• Toy stuffing (£3.50 for big bag, of which you will only use about 1/10th for this project, so lots of projects for your money!) 
• Needle and thread
• Sewing machine

Making your Garland: 

Steps 1- 4

Steps 5 - 8

1. Cut out 4x hearts from each piece of fabric. I always use a stencil so that the hearts are uniform in size and shape. 
2. Cut 8x 20cm lengths of twine. Again measure each piece to make this accurate, otherwise your hearts will not hang at the same height. 
3. Double the twine over to make a loop, this is how you will hang your hearts from the garland. Hold the open ends of the twine together and attach to the right side of the fabric (see picture 3 above).  The reason for doing so is to prevent the loop moving whilst you are sewing the hearts. You can attach it either by hand stitching or machine stitching. You only need a few stitches to hold it in place, but it is very important that the twine is central to the heart and you attach it as close to the top of the heart as possible so that the stitches don't show when the heart is turned right way out. 
4. Secure the twine in the centre of the heart using a single pin (see picture 4 above). This is to prevent the twine getting caught in the seams when you are sewing the heart. The last thing you want is to excitedly turn your heart right way out, only to find yourself having to snip bits of twine from the seams...believe me, I've done it! And it means the heart has no hanger, fail!
5. Pin the heart right side down on the backing fabric (so that the pattern is facing the backing fabric). I like to use as few pins as possible because I find pausing in the sewing process to remove pins prevents the stitches flowing. 
6. Stitch around the heart leaving a 5mm-1cm seam allowance. I always line the edge of the fabric up against the edge of  the machine foot (about 7mm) because this ensures you follow the shape of the heart. Remembering to leave a 3cm gap along one of the straight edges of the heart to allow you to turn it inside out.
7. Turn the hearts inside out and using your finger or a blunt pointed object push out the point of the heart. using the toy stuffing fill the hearts evenly so that they are plump but not so much so that the seams are stretched! 
8. Using a needle and thread hand sew the 3cm gap closed to complete the heart. 
9. Cut a 155cm length of twine. Loop over 5 cm at each end and tie a knot to make loops to hang the garland. Pass the twine through loops of the first heart and situate it 15cm from the end of the twine. When in the desired position make a knot to hold the heart in place. Place a heart every 15cm along the twine, there should be 15cm at each end. 
10. Hang your garland and admire your hard work!! 

I got away from the oven and back to the sewing machine yesterday, as promised! I hope you enjoy the tutorial. I would love to see any pictures if you make these hanging hearts xxx