SAL... FRIENDSHIP HEARTS PART 1

Here is a collection of my small friendship hearts, I enjoy making these little hearts for friends, and they are quick and easy to make. For these ones I used pale pink linen which I have dyed using fruit tea bags. These were Twinings Cranberry, Raspberry and Elderflower ones. It is wise to test a little fabric first, as it depends on the strength and the length of time the linen is immersed . 3-4 teabags and 1/2 tsp salt with very hot water. Then I iron the fabric dry (placing it on an old towel as some of the colour will come out )and have your iron set for linen. I have tried other fabrics but they did not come up as well.'

Make yourself a paper template of a heart shape, my small one is approx 2 inches across at the widest point. I am not sure what size the one I have posted will come out as. So please decide for yourself what size you would like.
You need enough linen to transfer the template onto twice, with generous seam allowance, one can always cut of any extra but to little and you will have spoilt your piece.

Cut out your paper template and pin to your fabric. I never transfer the design using a pencil as it is to hard to cover all the marks. I simply backstitch round the outline and this stitching becomes part of the design. Use a perle 8 or 12 thread for this a single thread is easier to work with in the final stage of the construction and it needs to be strong when the edges are whipped together.  Here I have two different size hearts making the most of my piece of material, however in this SAL I am just giving instructions for the smaller one                      I will leave you with a couple of days to gather up fabric, threads, some small matching beads and narrow ribbon, white or matching felt is needed for finishing.  The SAL will be in three parts, I will post how to do the stitching next.       .