Heart 'Sachets'

Been looking at some of my supplies and I had so many packs ofgold metallic rick rack, metallic braid and such and wanted to use that up in some way.  I decided to try doing decorated hearts with them, just as an idea and it was so quick and easy a project that I ended up doing two batches of 40 hearts.  

My basic pattern was a heart 4 1/2" long and almost 4" wide, this gave enough for a seam allowance all the way around.  I did a deep cut on the top so the indent and rounded tops weren't subtle. For color I wanted something vivid but appealing.  Not red.  I went with fushia felt for the top layer and for the backs a medium purple polar fleece.  

Everything got applied to the top piece first.  I had some of that red/fushia colored tiger/zebra striped fabric that was so big around Halloween, so I cut wedges of that about 2" wide at one end narrowing down to a point at the other. Laid that out on the felt at different angles, then laid the rick rack along one edge and sewed both down in one pass. Turned it and sewed the other edge.  Then took rick rack and angled it across the front of the heart at a random angle and sewed that down with another pass.  

I ended up with 3 to 5 'lines' of rick rack on the hearts, with one or two other applique fabrics applied (there was a white flower print on pink background that looked nice with the rest, done the same way) and once all the front faces of the hearts were finished I paired them up with the polar fleece backs and machine sewed around the edges. 

The indent at the top had to be carefully clipped so I'd get as deep down into it as needed. And the opening I left for turning/stuffing was low on one side.  They were all turned and stuffed.  Then the side seam closed.  They needed ONE more detail to really highlight the items so I pulled out my bead selection and used 8mm metallic plated gold beads, doing one per heart as a sort of glitter focus. It really upped the look a lot.

Mine I did as cat toys (I have an upcoming event in two weeks), but they would make good lavender sachet items, or even act as pin cushions, or hang a string on them and turn them into window suncatchers or as package decorations during Christmas. Even use them as Christmas ornaments.

The size was good, a bit large for a cat toy but they're pretty.  The size can be scaled down a bit though it would depend on the width of the rick rack.  

I like the final result. They look fancy enough to sell and are interesting enough to be used for different things.