tales of love and chocolate: Heartshaped key chain tutorial from Esther

Today lovely Esther from My life in Namibia will show you a tutorial for beautiful, heartshaped key chains.

I just love how she has used the ribbons!

Be sure to visit her blog for further tutorials and other great ideas.

Lovely heart key chain tutorial and pattern

I thought it was time to share another tutorial with the world. I think it is quite straight forward, and you don't need a lot of sewing skills to make yourself a lovely heart key chain. It is a rather unusual keychain as this is a huge keychain. I designed this one for a lodge, to prevent the keys from going along with guests to their next destination. You certainly won't be able to fit these ones in your jeans pockets. They would also be lovely on bags, or you can hang them for decoration and leave the keychain for what it is.

Well, let's get started!!!!

Materials for 1 heart
* about 8-10 different pieces of ribbon, each 23cm long
* scraps of fabric
* stuffing
* another piece of thin ribbon, 10 cm long
* embroidery thread (optional)

Print out the pattern, which you can find here, and cut out the front piece of the heart and pieces A-F for the back piece of the heart. Seam allowance is included in the pattern. The seam allowance for the back of the heart is 0.5cm.

The back side of the heart: Cut out from scraps of fabric your six different pieces for the back of the heart. Choose any color you like. I've learned that if you go for multicolor, a lot will match anyway.
Sew the pieces together according to the figure above.
Start with sewing piece B to C.
Then sew piece B-C to piece A
Sew piece A-B-C to piece D
Sew piece E to F
Sew piece E-F to piece A-B-C-D
You must have a heart shape now....
You can use a zig-zag stitch, pinking shears or an overlocker / serger to finish the raw edges.

The front side of the heart: Lay your ribbons in a way that appeals to you, then sew each ribbon to the other till you've sewn all ribbons together. My hearts had to have a romantic farm appeal, and I needed 35 hearts, that's why I made a carpet first. Don't worry, you only need to do 10 small pieces of ribbon.

Cut out your heart shape from your little carpet and zig-zag stitch all around it. This will prevent the ribbons from coming loose when you stuff your lovely pretty heart.

Place the two heart pieces right sides facing each other. Place the small piece of ribbon between the two heart pieces at the top. Make sure the ribbon is facing inwards, the raw edges facing outwards. Now stitch around the heart, leaving an opening of about 8cm at the straight line of the heart.
Finish the raw edges, clipping away excess trimming and zig-zag stitch around.

Turn your pretty heart right side out. Fill your heart with stuffing. use small quantities at a time and try to stuff your heart evenly.

Hand sew your heart closed with a ladder stitch, put a keyring through the little ribbon and you are done!