Hellobee

These easy-to-sew felt conversation hearts are a delight to the senses. And they’re completely sugar-free! Your little ones will love looking at the oversized, colorful play candies, touching the felt and stitched letters, and listening to them too. Because they’re filled with crinkling cellophane!

In addition to being a fun felt toy to enjoy for Valentine’s Day, these hearts are also a good way to practice some letter recognition (I never turn down a learning opportunity!). And even though they are hand embroidered and sewn, they are a relatively quick project, and one that you’ll enjoy for years to come.

You will need:

Felt in pastel colors (wool blend felt will hold up better than the acrylic variety)
Embroidery floss in deep pink
Cellophane (from a roll or recycled packaging)
Tracing paper
Pencil
Pins
Scissors
Needle
Sewing machine (optional, but it speeds up the process!)

Conversation Hearts PDF

For each conversation heart, trace the heart and word onto tracing paper. Use this as a template to cut out two felt hearts.

Use three strands of embroidery floss and back stitch to embroider the word onto one heart. Stitch through the felt and the tracing paper.

When you’ve finished the embroidery, carefully tear away the tracing paper without tugging at the stitches. The stitches perforate the paper, making it easier to rip it right along the edge of the stitching.

Cut out two cellophane hearts. Use the felt hearts (or the template) as a guide, but they don’t need to be precise. Scrunch the cellophane to give them a bit of crinkle to start.

Fold or scrunch the center of the cellophane hearts and hold it so the cellophane is away from the edges of the plain felt heart.

Place the embroidered felt heart on top and hold the layers flat as you pin around the heart. As you pin, you will most likely pin through the cellophane along with the felt, and that’s okay! This will keep the cellophane from escaping to the edges of the heart.

Sew around the edge of the heart with a 1/4in seam allowance. Again, this doesn’t need to be too precise.

If you don’t have a sewing machine, just stitch around the edges with running stitch and the same thread you used for the embroidery. The dashed line will add a nice accent.

Now, continue making more hearts!

It’s so much fun to have a whole rainbow of these conversation hearts. It’s also really easy to customize the text. Just find a simple font (these use the free font “Quicksand”) and type out your own pattern. You could make hearts with your children’s names or a favorite phrase.

You could also use this same basic project to make little stuffed hearts or beanbags.

Your kids will love hearing the crinkle of these felt candy hearts, feeling the softness of the felt, and even tracing their fingers over the raised letters.

Happy crafting!