Uncategorized · Aug 08, 2011

Wedding Home-Made Favours Tutorial

Well it has been absolutely ages since I have last posted … I have not been very faithful in the world of blogging but so much has happened since my last posting.

Most of you know that I was studying for a Masters which was due to be completed in May and then I was getting married in Portugal at the beginning of July (photos to be posted soon so keep an eye on the blog), so after I handed in my dissertation I literally had 6 weeks to get the final arrangements for the wedding sorted and that I did! It was a very busy time indeed!

Not satisfied with an easier life I decided to make my guests wedding favours – I just couldn’t let a crafty opportunity like that slip away. BUT little did I know how long it would take to get my 55 lavender filled hearts completed. I also made my bridesmaid’s fascinators (but that’s another blog post to come …). Today I thought I would share a tutorial with you on how to make these lavender filled hearts..

Materials:
18cmx 14cm piece of Hessian or Jute fabric

18cmx 14cm piece of Calico material
Spare yarn in the colour of your choice. I used Anchor Tapestry yarn as its thick 100% pure wool.
18cmx 14cm piece of wadding to make the heart soft and spongy
Lavender (I used two heaped table spoons per heart).
15cm length of ribbon (thin width no more than 1cm wide)

Instructions
1. Download the heart template from here.
2. Trace template onto the calico with a pen.
3. Mark a section about 5-7cm long on the Calico with horizontal lines as seen in this photo. This is the opening and you will not sew it closed until the very end.

3. Pin the ribbon straight below the dip of the heart onto the Calico.

4. Neatly lay the Calico and the Jute over each other – right sides facing each other (i.e. the ribbon is not showing).

5. Sew around the heart leaving the opening un-sewn as the photo below. You can sew this part by hand or machine.

6. Neatly cut around the end of the heart leaving about a 7mm border. Take note leave more material than necessary where the opening is. This is because the jute starts to fray.

7. Put the heart to one side and get your wadding out. Pin the heart template to the wadding and cut.

8. Turn your heart inside out to – and we are almost done….

9.Stuff the wadding inside your heart and add the tablespoons of lavender. Fold the un-sewn and opened edges inside the opening of the heart and neatly close the gap sewing by hand using small invisible running stitches (as taught in the patchwork classes).

10. Next use long running stitches close to the border of the heart. The large gaps in the Jute will help you weave the yarn in and out of the material. I got this idea of using yarn over the Jute from a lovely student thank you, you know who you are.