This year for Valentine's Day, I didn't have a lot of money to spend on my husband. Add in the fact that he is difficult to shop for, as most guys are, and I was presented with a prime opportunity to give him something from my individual heart and not a shelf. Since this project only took about an hour to make once I figured out what I was going to do, it was something I could knock out pretty quickly while the girls sat beside me on the couch watching TV and my husband was none the wiser. If I knew how to use my sewing machine, this project would be much shorter.
Last year I sewed him a whale. It was sort of beige and gold on its body with music notes on it. The body was white with tiny red hearts printed on the fabric. Its eyes were blue stone beads that were more like blobs than orbs. It was overstuffed and I didn't think the flip the fabric when I sewed it, so it was unique to say the least. Still, he saw the sentiment behind it and the hard work I'd put into my creation and said he loved it, adding nicely that, no, it wasn't ugly--it was cute. Picking up my sewing box, I hoped this would not be a repeat experience.
The first step in a successful sewing project is to know what you're going to make and how you'll accomplish this. I couldn't give my husband real candy and wanted to give him something thoughtful. After creating a stuffed conversation heart for Autumn's class Valentine's Day party and having pretty good luck, I decided a repeat performance was in order. Whereas she wanted hers to simply say "Be Mine" on the front, I needed something more special. This made me think of his goth side and love for vampires that would also go with the dark romantic decor we're building towards in our bedroom, where he would likely keep it. After many lame ideas ("Bite Me" would just send the wrong message!), I slept on the idea. Eventually, I thought more about our Romanian honeymoon and used the Internet to search for how to say "I love you" in Romanian and found it to be "Te iubesc." It was perfect.
The next step was to gather my materials. I had some nice red fabric left over from the other heart. I also needed my needle, ink pen, shears, and thread. I used a spool that swirled between shades of purple, blue, and maybe a tad bit of pink, as I am running low on thread colors, but it still looked nice and added to the dark romantic feel more than a generic blue or black.
I folded the fabric in half and drew half a heart so that when I cut it out along the crease, both sides would be even. It is important here to mention the heart needs to be a little bigger than the finished project to allow room for stuffing and seams. Mine was a bit larger than my hand when I was finished, but it can be as large or small as you would like, keeping in mind smaller hearts may prove more difficult.
This is a good time to write the message on one side of your candy heart in ink. If you mess up, you can flip the fabric over; do this step after the sewing begins or try to wing it...not so much. It's easiest to write in block capital letters, not to mention the most authentic to the candy being mimicked. After writing out the message, I sewed over the letters so the message was visible and the ink hidden. If you don't want to just sew the letters, you could use fabric paint or even sequins or beads, and that would look great as well. I made sure the lettering looked okay, and it was time to put together the pieces of my heart (pun intended).
I made sure the two pieces of fabric were facing each other with the edges lined up, message facing
inside. If your heart is large, you may want to pin the seams together so they don't move on you. With mine being a smallish size, I could keep it straight fairly easily. I started sewing from the bottom near the point and then going down, coming back the other side, and around. Leave enough of a hole to flip the fabric and stuff your heart. Any secure stitch should do as long as the stitches are kept small. Leave about 1/3 of an inch between the edge of the fabric and the stitch.
After the sewing was done, I flipped the heart through the hole I left open. I poked Poly-Fill stuffing into the hole, using a pencil to push it into the corners and humps of the heart. Be sure not to over-stuff or your seams could rip, and your heart will look lumpy. I overstuffed yet again. After this is done, stitch up the hole. Doctor up and little holes or gaps as needed, and there you have it. I paired mine with a complementary homemade card with bats, flowers, a representation of us as vampires on our wedding day, along with the message "Te iubesc" on the card to match the gift. He really enjoyed it, busted seams and all (I'd misplaced the other heart and had to use his for hot potato "Hot Hearts" for Autumn's party, and it apparently took a beating I didn't have time to repair before the big exchange), and put his gift in our bedroom immediately.
