'Words of Love' Valentine's Day Stitched Bookmark

Valentine's Day is coming  up fast.
Lots of pretty heart shaped things and red roses appearing everywhere, especially on the crafty front.
It struck me that many of us will actually be wanting to create a gift for our menfolk, and an  awful lot of them are probably not quite so keen on the pretties!  I've come up with something which I think is  a bit more manly. Now, I love my Kindle and I know we all rely on our digital media - but the world will be a very sad place if we ever loose our books.

So, if your partner is a bookworm, here's a Valentine's gift to show how much you care. It makes up literally from scraps of fabric.

You need:

• 2 rectangles of fabric and 1 rectangle of iron on vilene about 19 cm x 5cm   (7.5 x 2 inches)
• two small squares of fabric for your dangly heart - about 5cm or 2 inches.
• matching thread
• embroidery  floss  - 2 strands
• a bead
• a button
• a small piece of cord or ribbon.

I used a plain red cotton and a rather lovely red ticking for contrast.
Fuse the vilene to the wrong side of the piece you aren't embroidering.

I chose some words I liked, and because my red fabric was really dark to work on I put them into a italic font and then used my PC screen as a light box to trace them onto a piece of white tissue paper. (This is why I don't use a laptop in my study. The PC screen is so useful for transferring designs!) You can just print out the text and then trace it, if your fabric's light.

Pin or baste your text on to the RS top upper piece of fabric and back stitch the design through the tissue. gently pull the paper away when finished.

If you use this method make sure your stitches are secure for when you come to pull the paper away. If you get 'sticky' bits left, rub your needle over them lightly and use a piece of sticky tape to get all the bits off.

Then, stitch right sides  together along both the long sides and top.  Turn inside out and press.

Cut out 2 heart shapes, one in each fabric ( to get a perfect heart fold the fabric and draw one side of the heart only, then cut out, like so....).

 Sew right sides together;  leaving a small gap on one side. Pop in a little stuffing and stitch up the gap. I added a bead to the bottom, like this, for a bit more weight.

Then cut a short piece of cord  and stitch to the top of the heart. Cover with a small button. Pop the other end of the cord into the end of your bookmark,  fold in the ends and and neatly stitch up, enclosing the cord securely.

I top stitched around to give a nice finish.

You could embroider specific words, or a name, and make the heart in felt for a really quick project. Have fun!

PS: Saturday 19th:
Himself just complained he had run out of bookmarks, so I produced this, and he was chuffed to bits! Passed the manly test! x