Valentine's Day Archives

Free Crochet Heart Pattern

January 24, 2018

Bright colorful crocheted hearts for kids and craft projects, easy crochet pattern ideas, beginner-friendly crochet heart designs, Shiny Happy World.

Want to learn how to make adorable crocheted stuffed animals with an easy online workshop – totally free?

Sign up for Let’s Make Amigurumi here. You’ll learn how to get started, the tools and supplies you’ll need, and how to make an easy amigurumi from start to finish using simple crochet stitches.

It’s a fun, inexpensive, and totally portable craft. You can do it!

Crochet these fun hearts!

What’s better than hearts for Valentine’s Day? This pattern contains instructions for 3 sizes of stuffed hearts! The small measures 2.5 inches tall, the medium is 5 inches tall, and the large is a whopping 7 inches tall!!

These hearts are adorable plush decorations on their own… but the medium size is specially designed to turn any FreshStitches amigurumi into a Valentine’s Day amigurumi!

Here you can see the same Owen the Monkey with the three different size hearts. 🙂

Soft crochet monkey plush toy with pink heart on head, perfect for baby gifts and nursery decor.

Soft crocheted monkey holding a pink heart plush toy, perfect for children's toys and handmade crochet gifts.

Download the free pattern here!

Happy stitching!

Stitch Love Blog Hop – free pattern

February 9, 2015

Mollie from Wild Olive knows how excited I am about her new book, Stitch Love: Sweet Creatures Big and Small. I’ve got it in my hot little hands right now and there will be a full review coming in a couple of weeks after I have a chance to make a project from it. In a nutshell – it’s exactly as fabulous as I thought it would be!

In the meantime, I jumped at the chance to be a part of this Valentine’s Day blog hop in celebration of the new book. Mollie is giving away a few special patterns that are like the patterns you’ll find in the book – but completely new and getting ready for Valentine’s Day. And a few bloggers got to play with them first!

I chose this little otter/ferret. 🙂

Mollie thinks of him as a ferret – I think of him as an otter. My way I get to make a terrible otter pun. 🙂

I immediately saw that envelope as a 3D pocket, with the whole thing appliqued in felt – so that’s what I did!

I started by tracing the body pieces on a scrap of The Magical Embroidery Stuff (aka Sulky Sticky Fabri-solvy).

I love it so much! You stick it to the felt, stitch right through it, then cut out the pieces and rinse the stuff away.

Magic! (You can read more about here.)

Then I layered those pieces on a piece of pretty fabric. (This is Dream in Pink from Timeless Treasures.)

Tuck a bit of the ears and tail behind the body, and then whipstitch all around each piece. A tiny dab of fabric glue on the back of each piece holds them in place while you stitch. No irritating pins to grab your thread!

Now add the envelope. I traced it as one piece so I could fold it into a little pocket. Flat it looked like this. . .

And then I folded it and stuck it on the otter like this. . .

Stitch all the way around the outside edge of the envelope.

Next I added his paws so it looks like he’s holding the envelope instead of having it float in front of him. 🙂

Just cut them out, stick them in place, and stitch them down. They’re tiny. 🙂

I cut out two hearts and whipstitched them together around the edge to add some pretty detail – and make them stiff enough to easily tuck into the envelope.

Hoop it up in a tiny hoop (here’s how I do it with no glue) and you have this. . .

Download the pattern here so you can make your own!

Different bloggers will be giving away cute little critters like this one all week long! Here’s the schedule. . .

Monday: Shiny Happy World (That’s me!) & Wild Olive

Tuesday: Little Dear Tracks

Wednesday: Lark Crafts

Thursday: Hugs Are Fun

Friday: Feeling Stitchy

Saturday: Pretty By Hand, nanaCompany & Wild Olive

If you make one and post about it on social media, use the hashtag #stitchlovebloghop. 🙂

Oh – and did you like how I sneakily changed an embroidery pattern into an applique pattern? I do that all the time. It means if you buy Mollie’s new book of embroidery patterns, you’re also getting a book full of cute applique patterns. That’s a good deal! I have a tutorial with more info here.

Happy Valentine’s Day! And happy stitching!

Best,
Wendi

Heart Garland – a free pattern for Valentine’s Day

January 20, 2015

Crafting for Valentine’s Day is so much fun – especially since you don’t have to put the decorations away after the holiday’s over. Hearts never go out of season!

This pretty heart garland is easy to make (Just one stitch! And there’s a link to a video showing you how to do it!) and it’s a great way to use up tiny felt scraps and stray bits of thread. 🙂

Want the pattern? Here we go!

All stitching is done with two strands of embroidery floss.

Step 1

Download the pattern templates here.

Print them out at 100% size (or whatever size you like). I really like using freezer paper for small pieces like this. Just iron it down to the felt, cut out the shape, peel off the paper and reuse it for the next one.

For each disc, cut out two large circles, one small circle, and one heart. I used lovely wool felt scraps for all of mine. (If you want your discs to have hearts on both sides, just cut out two of everything.)

For each foot of garland you’ll need 9 finished discs.

Step 2

Stack one large circle, one small circle, and one heart.

Blanket stitch around the heart, stitching through all three layers of felt.

Step 3

Blanket stitch around the smaller circle.

You’ll be stitching through two layers of felt.

Step 4

Layer the second large circle on the back of the disc and blanket stitch around the edge of the two layers.

Now you won’t see the back of any of your embroidery. Neat and tidy!

Step 5

Make as many discs as you want.

Each foot of garland needs 9 finished discs.

Step 7

Find a needle that’s longer than your disc is wide. Cut a length of stringing cord - I used one yard of pretty baker’s twine.

Thread the needle with the cord.

Step 8

Thread the needle between the two layers of felt, stringing the disc onto the cord.

Step 9

Continue adding discs until your garland is finished.

Admire your work! Isn’t it pretty?

Now hang it somewhere where it will make you smile every time you see it. :)

Stitch up some love!

Have a great day, everyone!

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