a blog about my quilting life...mostly

a blog about my quilting life...mostly

Monday, February 5, 2024

Sweet vintage hearts~ a short little tutorial for you

 Hello friends and happy February! 

( See, we all made it through January just fine, and before you know it it will be SPRING! I have daffodils starting to pop up their greenery already!)

Today I wanted to share a very quick and simple tutorial with you. I have been having a lot of fun playing with these, and figured you might like to get in on the action as well ;).

This is what I've been making: 



{ please be aware that I am using affiliate links, and when you make a purchase though one of those links, I get a small commision, at absolutely NO extra cost to you~ thank you for supporting Farmhouse Quilts in this manner!}


When I walked in the door of my local reuse shop last week, I spied this cutter quilt immediately! The colors, the simple design, everything about it said TAKE ME HOME. So I stuck it in my basket and home it went.( I am a sucker for fabrics and old quilts and buttons telling me to take them home...you too??).

Once home I laid it out to examine it more closely: 

Such a simple design, but so effective! This might be the next quilt that I need to remake....
As you can see there is quite a bit of damage, and upon closer inspection, I could see that this top quilt was sewn over top of another quilt, which had a blanket as batting. Super duper heavy, so I'm not surprised that the quilt did not hold up well. The inner quilt and blanket are also a bit smaller than the top one. Very interesting! 


I really hoped to save this quilt somehow, but the person who sewed the top sewed every seam, and I did not see myself taking out all those stitches....so it will be recreated as closely as possible at some point in the future. In the meantime, I have this wonderful quilt that I can make crafty items with!

Since Valenttine's Day is close, I thought some hearts would be perfect, so pulled out my Go!Me cutter(click) and the Queen of Hearts die(click) and cut out a bunch of hearts....let me tell you that it was sometimes iffy whether my cutter was going to survive that task! In some of the fabric there are so many layers ( 1 quilt, a blanket, another quilt, a backing....) that it took some convincing to run those through my diecutter!

Luckily the cutter is handpowered by ME and there is nothing to break on the dies or cutter itself, so a little willpower got those layers through!

So let me show you how easy it is to make these sweet hearts!
( and if you don't have a cutter quilt on hand, no worries, you can sew together some scraps instead, or just use offwhite or all white fabric like in this example that I found on Etsy!)



Start by cutting a heart shape or use a die cutter if you have one.
It can be whatever shape and size you desire, but I think smaller is more effective.


Next, grab a piece of fabric that you want to use for the back. I used some toweling fabric that I cut up for a red and white Christmas quilt, but then was afraid would shrink too much ( and I was right, thank goodness I discarded that idea!!) 


Lay your heart on top of your backing fabric, like this: 

Now take a piece of ribbon, cord, twine~ I used crinkly seam binding~ tie a knot near the bottom to create a loop, and place it in between your top and bottom fabric.




Notice that my knot is just above my heart, but the tails are tucked in between the layers!

Now start sewing around the heart shape, maybe 1/8" from the edge, making sure to catch those ribbon tails in between the layers. You might want to use a walking foot, but I did just fine with my regular foot...



If you are using scrap fabric or plain fabric, it would be nice to add some stuffing in between before you sew around the entire heart, just to give it a little bit of volume.

Next, grab a nice sharp pair of scissors ~ my favorites are these Tim Holtz ones (click)~very sharp, nice serrated  edges, and way cheaper than those that everyone tells you you should buy!~ and cut around your heart shape, being careful to not cut your ribbon.

 Now it is time for some embellishing! Grab a waterproof ( or at least colorfast) inkpad( I use this one~click), some twill tape or other good surface ( don't laugh, but for my first bunch I used the ribbon that comes tied around FQ bundles! Just turn it over and no one will notice there is printing on the other side already! )
Then grab some alphabet stamps ( these ones look great! click) or any other stamp you want to use, anything you like, as long as it fits on your tape!
It is always a good idea to try on paper first, just to make sure you are stamping straight.
  
Then stamp, cut, and attach to your heart with your sewing machine by simply sewing 2 straight lines on both ends. If you want you can sew all the way around, but there is no need to do so.

If you like you can add some buttons now, just sew those on by hand, with thread that picks up the colors in the fabric, or that matches your button...
 

And done!

These are verrrrrryyyy addictive to make, so just be forewarned! 
Here are some more close-ups:




I hope you have some fun making these, and if you can, share a photo with me, either via email or in the FB group! Speaking of FB groups, I started up an additional one that is just for Accuquilt related fun. I am sharing tips and tricks, and will be pointing out good sales when they happen, but members are also encouraged to share their makes, questions, anything at all! If you would like to join, you can go here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3639364372948605. Just like my original Farmhouse Quilts and Friends group ( click here to join that one), I strive to make my groups friendly and supportive, filled with generous and kindhearted people, so I promise you will enjoy joining in!

By the way, in case you are wondering about my January Blues quilt that I shared last month ( click here to read about it), I have now completed 21 blocks and am well on my way to the 30 I was planning on making...except these darn addictive hearts have thrown me off schedule a bit! No matter, I will get back to them soon enough! One block a day ( give or take) is really the way to go for this gal, who has the attention span of a 2 year old sometimes~HAHAHA.

In last month's blog post I also promised a birthday giveaway, and the winner of that giveaway is.....Kathy Dostie! Congrats Kathy! Please send me an email or message me via FB to give me your address so I can send you some goodies!

Alright, that is about all I have to share. So, until next time~ happy creating!
Monique