free piecing study - february - heart

disclaimer - i've been sick for a week, but i really wanted to get this tutorial done. so it is probably full of typos and such. i'm sure you'll understand. right? right!

i've had hearts on the brain ever since seeing this and this and this. aren't they fab? most tutorial for hearts have a seam down the center of the heart. and it bugs me that i have to match up that seam. ugh. but after studying the hearts in those pictures, there are many ways to make them! and i want to share with you the way i made some.

basically you have a seam across the heart and then you whack off the part that doesn't match up. that's my kind of sewing!




start with a squarish or rectangular fabric for the heart and slice it into two pieces with one larger that the other. the larger piece will be the bottom of your heart.





now cut a background piece a little taller than your heart piece. do you see it? it's an upside down house roof! that was the aha part for me. now cut out the bottom part of your heart and the corresponding background piece.







now use the triangular background piece for the top of the heart. look! another upside down house roof! and sew your roofs (i mean heart pieces) together.





now use some more of that background triangle piece to cut some smaller triangles.





sew those triangles on, and sew the top and bottom halves of the heart together. trim the sides so you add some shape to your heart and sew on some background pieces to the sides and top to frame your heart. you can add additional logs to the block to make it larger.





a heart for molly!

hope the tutorial is useful to you!

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i've heard mentioned a few times since the start of the study two things. first, "i can't seem to free up and put angles in my blocks." second, "free piecing causes waste." i think these two thoughts are connected. maybe you're not cutting on angles because you are thinking of the waste. yes, free piecing does cause some wasting of fabric. however, it is the price you pay for not having to worry about points matching. it is also the price you pay to have a block that has more personality. i will gladly pay this price. will you? if it truly bothers you, just use scraps for your free piecing. you won't mind the waste so much and you'll be using up some of your scraps!