Tangled Threads by Jen: Valentines Heart ♥ Garland

The thing I like most about Valentines day is the excuse to make hearts... lots of hearts. I always have felt and ribbon on had so this was an easy project that didn't require a trip to the store.

Supplies:

Felt in multiple colors - I used Red, light pink, bright pink and white
70 inches of 5/8" wide ribbon
Scissors
Exacto knife (shown but I didn't end up using it, scissors worked best for cutting slits in the hearts)
Heart pattern, hand drawn, 4 1/2" wide by 3 1/2" tall

Step 1: Trace hearts onto felt using a marker, and cut. I made 7 double sided hearts, so I cut 4 red, 4 white, 4 bright pink, and 2 light pink hearts.

Me trying to be more efficient with my felt use.

Look at all those pretty hearts.

Step 2: Make two 1/2" marks, spaced 1" apart onto center of 7 (or half) of your felt hearts.

Step 3: Fold half (7) of your hearts in half, and using scissors cut slits into felt at each of your markings. This is where you'll be threading your ribbon next.

Step 4: Thread ribbon through the slits on the heart, place side of heart with the pen marks facing down so they're not visible. Continue threading until you have all 7 hearts attached to your garland. Space hearts about 1 1/2 inches apart. With about a 16" tail on both ends of the garland.

Step 5: Align a matching heart to the backside of your threaded heart. The ribbon will be sandwiched between the two layers. Pin in place, making sure to pin the ribbon down so it doesn't shift on you during sewing (I learned this the hard way, but a little crooked heart looks really cute too).

Step 6: Sew hearts together. I used the triple stitch setting on my machine, I love the thick line it creates, making the stitches really stand out. You could really play with the stitch settings on your machine with this. I thought about doing hearts, but loved the look of the stitching since it matched the style of my ribbon.