Hearts on a String

Many thanks to Tif at Dottie Angel for the inspiration for this fun and easy project. Go here to see her post.

You will need:

Sewing machine &
Thread color of your choice (I used white) &
String for hanging loops &
Scissors for cutting paper (don't you dare use your good sewing scissors!) &
Various papers - I used leftover scrapbook papers as well as paper pulled from my stash torn from old books

If you have them and want to use them, heart shaped paper punches are useful, too. I've got a small and medium punch, and used them both.

Cut or punch out hearts of various sizes. Use a variety of papers, and get a nice assortment ready to sew. You will be sewing pairs of hearts together as you go. You may find, as I did, that you don't want to stop!

Originally, I did my strings the way Tif did, with long threads left at the top for hanging, and long trailing threads at the bottom. I decided I didn't care for them that way, so I trimmed off the danglies. Instead of long threads for hanging, I stitched loops of string between the top heart layers.

Lay one heart, "good" side down. Put a loop of string on top, with the ends pointing to the bottom of the heart, and the loop sticking above the top of the heart. Place another heart on top of that, "good" side up.

Zigzag across the top center of the heart, going back and forth a few times to securely catch the ends of the string. If your machine has a "needle down" function, it helps a lot. After going backwards & forwards with the zigzag, stop in the middle of the center top of the heart.





Pivot the heart so the top is fac ing the back of your machine (leave your needle down). At this point, I switched to a straight stitch, although you could continue to zigzag. Stitch down to the point of the heart. Put another pair of hearts in position behind it, and keep on sewing until your string is as long as you like. I tried to mix up papers as I went, to keep it interesting.

I hope these directions are clear. It's very fast and it's a great way to use up odds & ends!

Keep on creating!
Immi