Valentine Heart Wreath

 

I made a pair of these wreaths for Valentine's Day, but a heart wreath makes a great decoration any time of year or a thoughtful gift.  I have double doors in the front of my house, so I wanted to make two larger wreaths.  It's a fairly easy project with a sewing machine and a beginner's ability with a needle and thread. All you need is a wire wreath form, some fabric, a few buttons and some fiber fill to stuff your hearts.  Let's go!

My wreath used two sizes of hearts - one that is 4" wide at the widest spot and the other that is 6" wide.  You can create your own or print the following picture on 8 1/2" x 11" paper and they will be at scale.  

Next, you need some fabric.  How much will depend on how many patterns you use and the size of your wreath.  I picked a bunch of red and pink fabrics for Valentine's Day.

I found my wire wreath form at Michaels and I chose two big ones - about 20" in diameter.  I started with my big heart pattern.  You can trace it on tissue and then use it as a pattern to cut each heart.  For a single heart, you will need to cut 2 from the fabric.  Place the fabric pieces right side facing, and beginning on a longer side, sew around the perimeter with a 1/4" seam.  Leave a 1" opening on one of the long sides.  It should look like this:

Before you turn the heart right side out, make some little perpendicular cuts in the seam allowance, being careful not to cut the seam.  This will help the shape of your hearts when you turn them right side out.  Here is a heart turned right side out, ready for stuffing:

Next, stuff your heart with fiber fill and sew up the opening with a needle and thread using a ladder stitch (so the raw edges are tucked in).  Each large heart will be laid side by side around the outside of the wire wreath.  I hand sewed each heart onto the wire wreath and then together on the sides.  I used 14 big hearts around a 20" wire wreath.

Next, I moved on to the smaller hearts, using the same method described above. I used the same number of smaller hearts and nestled them with the center between two big hearts.  Once I decided the layout, I sewed a button on every other small heart.  Then I sewed them directly onto the bigger hearts, 

 

You can stop here if you like this look, but I was looking for something a little more festive.  This next step works great if you have lots of fabric scraps.  I used similar colors and cut them into 1" x 6" strips (although you don't need to be exact).  I also had a lot of ribbon and ric-rac to add.  Flip the wreath to the wrong side or hang it so you can reach the outermost wire on the back and begin tying the strips onto the wire like this:

Keep the strips close together to get a fullness and when you're done, it will look like this:

It was a lot of work, but I love the festive look of this heart wreath!  

cindy