A cute little sewing tutorial, designed for children but ideal for practising your hand embroidery too!

I was scrolling Pinterest for a little heart-related project for Valentines to try and review, and stumbled across this lovely little make from the Kids Activities Blog for Back to School: Felt Heart Pencil Toppers.  Now, the original tutorial is aimed at children, and once the felt hearts have been made the idea is for children to draw funny faces on their pencil toppers for a fun finish.  Great idea, and one to remember for when my little one is older.  But for me, I couldn’t resist adapting the approach slightly and using this as a chance to do a bit of pretty hand sewing.

This is the basic heart, with a collection of tiny buttons stitched on…

Here I did a few layers of smaller hearts – great practice for blanket stitch (and if you’re a bit wobbly with that particular stitch, you can find a great tutorial by Futuregirl here) …

This one came out a bit regal – has something of an Anne Boleyn look about it to my eyes.  I incorporated two rows of beaded blanket stitch (if that’s new to you, you can follow this tutorial by Craftaholique to get you going, but to be honest if you can do blanket stitch you’ll have no problems)…

I was inspired by a picture of an iced biscuit for this one – I found a lovely little cookie covered in coloured dots resembling flowers, simple but very effective.  So I recreated the effect using french knots (fab french knot tuotial here if you need one)…

And finally my favourite!  I used lazy daisy stitch to make the petals, french knots to make the centres, and running stitch for the leaves and stems.  It’s pretty cute don’t you think…

You can make these hearts in no time at all, or get really stuck in with some complex embroidery and make a mini project of it.  If you don’t have need for a pencil topper, you can always add a pin on the back to create a brooch.  And if you’d like to use my templates for any of these you can download them here.

What a pretty way to say ‘I love you’ to someone special this Valentines.

If you’d like more ideas for similar sewing projects, follow my Pinterest Boards; Sewing for Beginners and Improvers, Sewing Projects for the Home, and Gift Ideas for Sewers to Give or Make.  I’m adding new pins all the time, and review great patterns and tutorials whenever I can.

If you love to sew, why not sign up to my Creative Sewing Challenge?  You’ll receive a new prompt each month to inspire your sewing.  Sign up below, or find out more here.

And if you think anyone who follows you on Pinterest might be interested in taking part, feel free to share my pin…

Thanks for dropping by, happy sewing everyone!

Amy