How To Make A Felt Heart: Tutorial For Beginners (Free Template!)

A handmade felt heart is one of my favorite handmade DIY felt crafts to make.

It’s also a great way to learn how to hand sew, as felt is thick, it doesn’t move around much and it doesn’t fray.

This tutorial on how to make a felt heart is perfect for beginners, including children.

You can also use it as a guide if you’re more advanced, as you can make it easier or harder depending on the stitch you use and how you customize your heart.

Make red hearts for Valentine’s Day, or make hearts in colors that match your decor.

They also make great gifts for your kids to give to their teachers or classmates. Or make a whole bunch of them in Christmas colors and string them together to make a festive garland to hang up.

My free felt heart template gives you 5 different sizes to choose from and play around with.

Handsewn red felt heart, with white stitching, surrounded by red felt heart pieces, cut out heart template, printed out heart template pattern sheet. fabric scissors, pins, spool of white embroidery thread, embroidery needle. Everything is placed on a self healing cutting mat — Free Felt Heart Template and supplies to make a cute red felt heart.

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Supplies List

Free felt heart template
Felt sheets (color of your choice)
Fabric Scissors
Sewing needle
1. Embroidery needle for hand sewing
2. Medium-sized needles for machine sewing
Thread (the same colors as your felt or in a contrast color)
1. Embroidery thread for hand sewing
2. Polyester thread for machine sewing
Stuffing material
Pins
Embellishments (optional): like beads, buttons, or embroidery thread, to add a personal touch.

Handsewn red felt heart, with white stitching, surrounded by red felt heart pieces, cut out heart template, fabric scissors, pins, spool of white embroidery thread, embroidery needle. Everything is placed on a self healing cutting mat — Red felt heart surrounded by the supplies I used to make it.

Instructions For Making A DIY Felt Heart

1. Gather Your Materials

If you’re a beginner sewist I recommend using the same color thread as your felt to hide wonky stitches.

If you’re more advanced, challenge yourself by using a contrast thread to make your stitches stand out.

2. Prepare Your Felt Heart Pattern

Download, print and cut out the heart you want from my free felt heart template (there are 5 sizes to choose from)

TIP: Do not be like me and accidentally use your fabric scissors to do this! Only use craft or kitchen scissors to cut out the paper pattern.

I’m cutting out the felt heart template

3. Fold The Felt In Half

I fold the felt in half to cut 2 heart shapes out at once. This means my felt heart pieces will be the same shape as each other.

If you have extra thick felt, you can cut one layer at a time.

Madeleine is folding the red felt sheet in half with both her hands. You can see the cutting mat and table in the background. — Folding the felt in half to make it quicker to cut out the felt heart shapes

4. Pin The Heart Template To The Felt

Place the heart template as close to the edge of the felt as you can to waste as little felt as possible.

I used three pins to pin the biggest heart template to the felt.

You can also secure the felt freehand, with tape, fusible interfacing etc.

It’s important to secure the felt with pins (or something else) to get two heart shapes that are the same size.

Madeleine is pinning the felt heart template to the red felt to secure it ahead of tracing it onto the felt with tailor's chalk. You can see the tailor's chalk, cutting mat and table in the background. — I’m pinning the felt heart template to the red felt to secure it ahead of tracing it onto the felt with tailor’s chalk.

5. Trace The Heart Onto The Felt

Use tailor’s chalk or erasable fabric pen to trace the heart pattern onto the felt.

Madeleine is tracing the felt heart. She is drawing around the felt heart template using tailor's chalk. The felt heart template is secured to the red felt with pics. You can see the cutting mat and table in the background. — I’m drawing around the felt heart template using tailor’s chalk.

6. Cut The Felt

If I’m cutting 2 layers of felt at the same time, I pin them together to make sure the bottom piece of felt doesn’t move around and turn into a weirdly shaped heart.

You can tidy up the felt edges with smaller scissors later if you need to.

Madeleine is cutting out the red felt heart pieces from 2 layers of felt folded together. The heart pieces are secured by 3 pins. You can also see the felt heart template, the cutting mat on top of the cutting table, along with Madeleine's hands and fingers holding the scissors. She's wearing a watch. You can also see some of the floor in the background. — I’m cutting out the felt heart pieces from 2 layers of felt. I’m following the lines I drew using tailor’s chalk.

7. Sew The Edges Of The Heart Together

If you didn’t pin your felt together when cutting out 2 layers at a time, or if you cut out one later at a time, I recommend you pin the 2 heart shapes together now, to ensure the heart edges line up perfectly before you start sewing.

You can sew the heart together by hand or using a sewing machine. I hand-sewed this heart using backstitch (which is perfect for beginners).

If you’re more advanced, you could try blanket stitch for a more decorative look.

Madeleine is holding the felt heart. you can see the backstitching she has done on the felt heart so far - about 2 inches in white embroidery thread. There are a couple of other felt heart pieces in the background along with pins and a cutting mat. — I’m hand sewing the felt heart using backstitch.

For lots more felt stitching options, check out my post which has 12 different stitches you can use on felt.

Madeleine is holding the felt heart. you can see the backstitching she has done on the felt heart so far - about 2 inches in white embroidery thread. — Backstitch stitches on my red felt heart.

8. Leave An Opening!

Leave about an inch of the heart unsewn (open) so you can add the stuffing.

Don’t forget to secure the thread by knotting it between the 2 layers to hide it.

This photo shows the opening left to be able to stuff the felt heart. There is a yellow 2 sided arrow showing how wide the hole is. There is an embroidery needle next to the heart, along with other pieces of felt hearts all are on top of a self healing cutting mat. — The yellow arrow shows how wide the opening should be for you to be able to stuff the felt heart.

9. Add The Stuffing

I used felt scraps to stuff my heart this time.

You can also use other fabric scraps, filling from an old disused pillow or you can buy poly-fill for an extra soft and squishy heart.

Use chopsticks or a pencil to help you distribute the felt evenly if you need to.

Madeleine stuffing the felt heart with felt scraps. Her fingers are inside the opening of the heart and you can see her pushing down the scraps into the heart. In the background you can see lots of red and light brown felt scraps, felt heart pieces and a self healing cutting mat. — I’m stuffing the felt heart with felt scraps.

10. Sew The Heart Closed

Close up your heart by sewing up the final inch you left open to stuff the heart.

Madeleine closing up the felt heard after stuffing it with felt scraps. The embroidery needle has been pushed in one side of the felt and the tip of the needle is coming out the other side. Felt heart pieces and self healing cutting mat in the background. — I’m closing up the stuffed felt heart after stuffing it with felt scraps.

11. Secure The Thread And Hide It

You can secure the thread and hide the knot on the last stitch by threading the needle through one layer of felt (from the outside to the inside of the heart), then knot the thread – use your fingers to help you get the knot as close to the felt as possible.

Then carefully guide the needle into the heart and out the other side – being sure to go between the seams, NOT through the felt itself.

Once the needle and thread come out the other side of the heart, cut the thread as close to the inside of the seam as possible – it will retract back into the heart and disappear while keeping the final knot as secure and hidden as possible.

Madeleine securing and hiding the knotted thread by pushing it through the heart (in between the 2 felt heart pieces). There is a yellow arrow pointing this out. In the background you can see other felt heart pieces on top of a self healing cutting mat. — Securing and hiding the knotted thread by pushing it through the heart (in between the 2 felt heart pieces).

And voila! Your heart is finished!

Close up of a stuffed red felt heart with white stitches. Heart is held by Madeleine (post author). In the background there are left over felt scraps used for filling, along with Madeleine's other hand resting on a pink self healing mat. — Close up of completed stuffed red felt heart with white hand stitching (backstitch).

12. Customize Your Heart

Customizing your heart is a great way to make it unique AND use up those lovely bits and pieces sewists collect but never seem to use, and turn them into something beautiful and special:

Embroidery
Beadwork
Different types of stitches
Color variations
Buttons
Charms
Bits from broken jewelry
Ribbon

TIP: Decorate the separate heart pieces BEFORE sewing the heart together, otherwise you might have to sew through the whole heart which could look strange.

You can also customize your heart by turning them into different things!

Here are some ideas:

Brooch
Keyring
Bag charm
Scented sachet
Pincushion
Decorations for around the home or classroom

FAQ

Can I Wash My Felt Heart?

You can wash your felt heart. Ideally, spot clean it or handwash it. I wouldn’t wash it in the washing machine as it might get deformed or shrink.

Read my full guide on cleaning felt for all the options you have.

What If I Don’t Have Stuffing?

If you don’t have stuffing to fill your felt heart, use any fabric scraps or old t-shirts you have lying around. That’s what I did.

You can also open up an old pillow or cushion you don’t use anymore and use the stuffing from there.

My Stitches Aren’t Even. Any Tips?

You can practice sewing on a scrap piece of felt before you start sewing your felt heart.

But if your stitches aren’t even, don’t worry about it. When it comes to sewing, practice makes perfect and in my opinion, part of the charm of hand stitching is the rustic look of the stitches.

Wrap-Up On Making A Felt Heart

Sewing a felt heart is a perfect beginner sewing project. It’s an excellent way to learn how to sew by hand.

If you’re a more advanced sewist, challenge yourself and try a more advanced stitch on the edges, like a blanket or whip stitch and embroider your heart as well to make it unique.

Remember, your stitches don’t need to be perfect – to me it makes the heart unique!

Let me know in the comments below if you found this tutorial useful or if you have any questions and what other sewing tutorials you’d like me to do.

Also, I’d love to see your creations. You can share them with the hashtag #sewistslab and I’ll share them on my Instagram account!