Thursday, February 10, 2011

How-To: Fabric Hearts Bookmark

I made this little fabric bookmark for Jeremy's Valentine's Day gift. (We're going very low tech this year.) It only took about 2 hours so it's totally do-able for quick after-work or afternoon project. Plus it's super cute so just make one, ok? :)

Materials: fabric (any colors), contrasting (or coordinating) thread, scissors, pinking shears, paper for your templates, stick pins, a needle, an iron, and a sewing machine.

First, cut six squares out of the fabric that you chose for your hearts. Stack three squares, all right side up.

Next, cut out a heart template. Take a small piece of paper approximately the size of the heart you'd like to make. Fold the paper in half. Draw half a heart shape on one side of the folded paper. Make sure that when you unfold the paper you'll have a whole heart not two halves! Cut out the heart template. Place it on top of the three squares and secure it with a stick pin.

Using your pinking shears to cut down on fray, cut around your heart template to make three identical fabric hearts.

Next, take your heart template and cut an even smaller heart out of the center. This will be the template for the small heart. Repeat the above steps for the small heart.

Now, find the fabric you'd like as the base of your bookmark. Fold the fabric right side to right side. Lay out your hearts on the fabric so you get an idea of how large you'd like your bookmark to be. There should be enough fabric all the way around your hearts (at least a 1/4 inch) for seams. (FYI: I left a 1/2 inch all the way around so, in addition to the seam allowance, my hearts had a little 1/4 inch border.) Cut out your bookmark panels.

Separate your two bookmark panels. Arrange your hearts on one fabric panel (the bookmark front) to your liking. Pin your hearts and, using your sewing machine, sew a straight line from the top of the panel to the bottom, vertically down the center of each heart, anchoring everything in place. (I'm sorry there is no picture of this step. To get an idea of what this looks like, jump two pictures ahead.)

Next, place the other fabric rectangle right side down on top of your bookmark front. Line up your edges and pin down the left, right and top sides. Sew, leaving the bottom open for turning.

Once the three sides are sewn, turn your bookmark inside out and press with a hot iron. Make sure to poke the corners out to get your bookmark as square as possible.

Turn the bottom of the bookmark inside a 1/4 inch and press, leaving a nice straight edge.

Blind stitch the bottom edges together. Click here for a blind stitch tutorial.

For added detail I zig-zag stitched around my completed bookmark in the same thread color as my center seam.

Enjoy endless (cute!) hours of reading!

Friday, February 4, 2011

February Calendar

Here is my February 2011 calendar. You can find it on my Flickr. Feel free to use it!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Número Dos

Here is the second picture for Daffycat's Totally Useless Stitch-a-long. As you can see I've collected a few more threads since last time. It's still teeny tiny compared to others but, oh, how I love it.