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10 February 2011

Mending a Broken HeArt

I spent an enjoyable afternoon this week with textile artist Elizabeth Sayers to make a heart with attitude, using scraps of old fabric & beads.

To start I chose the base colour of my heart from all the lovely fabrics Elizabeth had provided, then I cut out my two heart shapes freehand.


I hand stitched the two pieces together using blanket stitch with gorgeous blue thread. Every now & then I added some rocailles beads to add interest around the edges.


Elizabeth created some cord for me to use by tearing a fine strip of fabric then over stitching on her sewing machine with two different blue metallic threads. I used half to create a hanging loop & saved the other half for later.

The heart was filled & a bead added to the bottom of the loop. I completed the rest of the heart back at home.

I used a strip of an old silk scarf, lace, wording & white organza ribbon.


I cut a small heart from old cotton fabric (from an discarded man's shirt) & edged it with some fibre, incorporating a square of lace from an old lace doily (charity shop find).


For the final touches, I stitched on the remaining half of the handmade cord, added three old buttons & a pearl coloured pin.