Handmade Felt Heart Free Tutorial

Handmade Felt Heart Free Tutorial - source: Felt Sew Good

(original post: http://feltsewgood.blogspot.it/2009/12/handmade-holidays-part-1.html)

Are you making any gifts for the people on your list this year? Or, are you like me and love handmade holiday home decor? Simple to make, these cute heart shaped ornaments make wonderful gifts or gift wrap accents. Hearts are one of my favorite shapes, and I love crafting with recycled felted wool sweaters. So I combined the two to make this version of my Heart Felt Ornaments. Heart shapes are cut from a felted wool sweater, then embroidered and accented with beads and buttons. Sew two layers together and fill them with stuffing.

Here's a quick tutorial to show you how I made these ornaments.

Don’t worry if you can’t find a wool sweater to felt. Wool felt fabric will also work just as well and can be purchased at your local fabric store, craft store or ordered online.

Tools and materials needed:
Felted wool sweater or wool felt
Embroidery thread and needle
Cotton or wool thread
Assorted beads and buttons
Stuffing
Scissors, pins and tracing paper

For my Heart Felt Ornaments I used red and white as my colors.

What to do:
Step 1. Cut out hearts. To make a heart shaped paper pattern, fold a piece of paper and starting at the fold, cut out one side of the heart so that the fold is the center of the heart. This way when you open the paper you have a perfectly proportioned heart. Try several shapes and sizes until you have the desired heart shape. Then pin the paper to the wool and cut out two hearts for each ornament you want to make. I also cut out some smaller hearts to make contrasting centers for some of my ornaments.


Step 2. Embroider and embellish the hearts. I used a contrasting color embroidery thread to sew simple stitches in star and swirl patterns on some of my hearts. Then I stitched on seed beads as embellishments. On other hearts I used a blanket stitch, or buttonhole stitch, to appliqué smaller hearts to the center, then added a button for embellishment. You will be using two pieces of wool for each heart ornament. You can decorate one or both sides of the ornament.

Step 3. Sew the hearts together. With wrong sides together, use a blanket stitch to sew around the outside edge of each heart. When about a one inch opening remains, fill the heart with stuffing, then finish stitching to close the opening.


Step 4. Hang the heart. Thread a short length of wool or cotton thread through the top edge of each heart to hang on your tree or tie to a package.

Black Cats and Love Bird

My last creations... :)

Love Bird Pin Brooch

Black Cat Polymer Clay Earrings

                       

Black Cat Cameo Necklace

Ginger Cat Figurine

This is a commissioned clay cat figurine, a ginger one :)

Kitten Portrait Canvas Painting

Kitten Portrait Canvas Painting

Original acrylic painting on a 7.9 inches (20 cm) square canvas (high quality canvas, 100% cotton). Thickness: 1.5 inches (38 mm)

Represents a blue eyed long fur kitten portrait on a light blue background. 

Personally signed by me.

This painting is ready to hang on wall.

Wizard Cat Figurine

Handmade one of a kind polymer clay sculpted wizard black cat, with his magic book.
Hand painted and decorated with glitters.
His whiskers are made of wire. 
The cat is about 2'' inches tall (50 mm).
Glued on a wooden base 1/2" (38mm) x 2 1/4" (57mm) and 3/16" (5mm) thick.
The base is decoupaged with a tiled floor picture.

Is just waiting for your adoption! You'll get his handmade certificate ^_^

Miniatura gattino mago in fimo, con il suo libro magico. Alto circa 5 cm.
Incollato su una base di legno di 38 mm x 5 mm. 
Sulla base è incollata con la tecnica del decoupage una texture che imita un pavimento a mattonelle.

Calico Cat Figurine

Handmade one of a kind polymer clay sculpted calico cat, with her kennel and blanket, food's bowl and wool's ball. Her whiskers are made of wire. The cat is about 1.5'' inches tall (38 mm).

Glued on a wooden base 1/2" (38mm) x 2 1/4" (57mm) and 3/16" (5mm) thick.

The base is decoupaged with a tiled floor picture.

Miniatura gattina marrone in fimo, con cuccina e copertina, ciotolina e gomitolo di lana.
Incollato su una base di legno di 38mm x 5 mm. 
Sulla base è incollata con la tecnica del decoupage una texture che imita un pavimento a mattonelle.

Tabby Cat Figurine

Handmade one of a kind polymer clay sculpted tabby cat, with his kennel and blanket, food's bowl and wool's ball. His whiskers are made of wire. The cat is about 1.5'' inches tall (38 mm).

Glued on a wooden base 1/2" (38mm) x 2 1/4" (57mm) and 3/16" (5mm) thick.

The base is decoupaged with a tiled floor picture.

Miniatura gattino marrone tigrato in fimo, con cuccina e copertina, ciotolina e gomitolo di lana.
Incollato su una base di legno di 38mm x 5 mm. 
Sulla base è incollata con la tecnica del decoupage una texture che imita un pavimento a mattonelle.