Conversation Heart Valentine’s Day Keychain Sewing Tutorial

V-Day is coming up soon, so it’s time for all DIY projects to start featuring hearts and pink and the word “LOVE.” And, seeing as love is indeed what makes the world go round, today I have a fun Valentine’s Day keychain sewing tutorial to share with you!

I live in Italy, but I grew up near Boston, the home of NECCO (New England Confectioners Company). Alas, NECCO recently closed down and there was mass panic that there would therefore no longer be what is perhaps their most famous product: candy conversation hearts.

Thankfully, other brands have “borrowed” NECCO’s idea and have also started making pastel colored, super sweet candies with red love messages on them. And how much fun is it to see how these messages have evolved over the years! We can still find the classic “Love You” and “Be Mine,” but now we can also see “Tweet Me” and “BFF” among many other modern love messages.

So today we’re making faux-conversation hearts from one of my favorite upcycled materials: felted wool sweaters! You can use regular felt instead, but I highly recomment using wool sweaters because 1) they have a wonderful thickness that lets you recreate the the shape of conversation hearts, and 2) they are more eco-sustainable!

The project is for a keychain, however you can leave off the keyring and just sew up a bunch of sweet message hearts to give to someone you care about. These would look so cute in a little basket or jar!

Is this Valentine’s Day keychain sewing tutorial just what you need for making a quick, fun handmade V-Day gift? Let’s get started! Either watch the video or continue reading below!

Materials:

• printable freezer paper sheets* (or regular printer paper and a regular roll of freezer paper*)
• printer
• fabric shears*  
• felted wool sweater in pastel colors (pink, lavender, light blue, light green, light yellow, light orange, white) or regular felt. I prefer the gorgeous, thick fabric from felted wool sweaters. Read here how to felt sweaters in the washing machine.
• iron
• red embroidery floss*
• embroidery floss to match the felt
• embroidery needles*
• tweezers*
• split-ring keychain ring*
• FREE printable conversation heart sewing pattern (My free patterns are available to all Cucicucicoo Newsletter subscribers. The Newsletter is sent out every two weeks and you can unsubscribe whenever you want. Sign up for the Newsletter here for access to dozens of free downloads, templates and patterns! If you are already subscribed, just look at the bottom of the last Newsletter you received for the link and password.)

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Print out these instructions!
Scroll down to the end of this post and click “Print”.

Embroider the messages

1. Felt one (or more) 100% wool sweater. This is a great way to use old and ruined sweaters that you no longer use. Or you can buy them cheap at a thrift shop. Here’s how to felt wool sweaters in the washing machine.

2. Print the Conversation Heart Pattern (see “Materials” above to find out how to download the file) on freezer paper. I suggest you read my tutorial on printing on freezer paper if you never have before.

If you don’t have printable sheets of freezer paper, just print on regular paper and trace the design onto regular freezer paper, as seen above. Whichever method you choose, make sure you print or draw on the paper side of the freezer paper, not the shiny side!

3. Iron the felted wool sweater. This project is wonderful for using up small scraps of sweater or felt! Then iron the freezer paper on the right side of the fabric, shiny side down.

If you are making the keychain, make sure that the key loop piece runs vertical, along the fabric grain. If you aren’t making a keychain, you can omit that piece.

4. Cut out around the heart with the message to separate it from the other pieces. This will make it easier to embroider. Use three strands of red embroidery thread and embroider the letters.

I suggest breaking up the straight lines going from top to bottom, such as the vertical part of the “L,” into two parts. Two shorter stitches are more stable than one long one.

5. When you’re done embroidering, cut out all the pieces along the lines.

If you’re sewing the keychain version (top), follow the lines to cut a square out of the center heart and the keychain loop. If you want to make the non-keychain version (bottom), don’t cut that square out of the center piece and don’t cut out the keychain loop.

Sew the heart candy keychain

1. Peel the freezer paper off of the pieces without embroidery.
2. Tear off small bits of freezer paper from the piece with embroidery, pressing down on the edge of the embroidery with your thumbnail to keep it from pulling.
3. Tear off as much freezer paper as possible with your fingers.
4. Slip tweezers under the remaining freezer paper.
5. Again, press down on the embroidery with your thumbnail while tearing small portions of the paper with the tweezers.
6. Peel back these portions and again, tear them off while holding down the embroidery with your thumbnail.
7. Remove small bits caught under the embroidery with tweezers.
8. Continue until all the freezer paper has been removed.

Now let’s assemble the pieces. First thread the needle with three strands of embroidery floss that matches the felted wool and tie a knot in one end.

1. Fold the keychain loop around the keyring and sew a few stitches to keep the ends together.
2. Place the heart center on the heart back, then insert the end of the loop into the square opening.
3. Push the needle to the back of the heart back, going through the loop.
4. Place the embroidered heart on top, matching up all the sides. Pass the needle back and forth a few times to hold the loop in place.

Now let’s start sewing the blanket stitch around the edges of the heart. You can see this technique more in detail by watching the video tutorial earlier in this post, or by watching this video on how to blanket stitch:

5. Push the needle to the front directly to the right of the keychain loop.
6. Before pulling the thread all the way through, slip the needle through the loop from the back. Then pull the thread all the way.
7. Repeat steps 5-6 a short distance, maybe a few millimeters, to the right of the first stitch. Make sure that you insert the needle the same distance from the fabric edge as you did with the first stitch..
8. Continue making stitches this way around the edge of the heart, making sure to keep an even distance between stitches and from the fabric edge.

9. Tie a knot when you get back to the loop (above left).
10. Then push the needle through the fabric near the knot and pull it out somewhere else on the piece (above right). Trim the thread close to the fabric.

Cute, right?!

Now make a few more in different colors and with different messages!

You can see here my experiment with thicker embroidery thread. I perfer the thinner letters, but you can make the letters whatever thickness you want.

Doesn’t it look so cute with your keys?! (Did you notice my colored keys? This helps me keep them apart. Click here to learn my easy 2-minute method of color coding keys!)

But maybe you don’t want to make a keychain, but a cute basket or jar or gift bag filled with these fabric conversation hearts. These are even easier to make!

Sew the non-keychain

1. Embroider the message and remove the freezer paper as described above.

2. Stack the three heart pieces with the message on top, matching up the edges.
3. Insert the needle from between the center and back pieces, pushing it through to the front (above left).
4. Bring the needle to the back and push through to the front so that the needle comes through again in the same spot as in step #3.
5. Before pulling the thread all the way through, slip the needle through the loop from the back. Then pull the thread all the way.
6. Continue sewing the blanket stitch all the way around the edges of the heart, as described in the keychain method. Remember to work left to right!

What a cute little gift to give your loved one this Valentine’s Day!

If you’re looking for an even more personalized way to show your loved one how much you care, check out this easy stuffed pocket heart pillow! You can sew it by hand or by machine, and slip a love message inside the pocket!

So, do you want to download the FREE pattern for this Valentine’s Day keychain sewing tutorial, as well all the best sewing and crafting news and projects? Then sign up for the Cucicucicoo Newsletter here and you’ll also get access to dozens of free printables!

Click here to save this fun Valentine’s Day sewing project on Pinterest!

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