Pocket hugs have started popping up all over the place recently: little tokens you can send to a loved one at the moment to send them a virtual hug while we're not allowed to give real ones.
They can tuck the hug in their pocket, carrying a reminder of your friendship and love wherever they go. It's such a lovely idea!
These are quick and easy to sew and would be a great little project to work on in the evening while you're watching TV. You can stuff them like I did or keep them flat so you can pop them inside a card. They'd also be a great project for working on with kids, especially if you're teaching them to sew as part of homeschooling.
You will need:
- A heart template (I used the one from this tutorial, but you could make bigger hearts if you'd prefer)
- Tissue paper or an air erasable marker pen
- Craft and sewing scissors
- Felt
- Sewing thread to match the felt
- A contrasting shade of embroidery thread (floss) (I used white)
- A biro or other fine pen
- A sewing needle and pins
- Toy stuffing (don't have any toy stuffing? felt scraps would also work!)
How to make a felt hug:
1. Use your heart template to trace a heart shape onto tissue paper. Then write HUG in the centre in nice clear letters.
2. Roughly cut around the tissue paper heart and pin or hold the heart onto a piece of felt. Secure the heart with some large tacking stitches, using any shade of sewing thread and avoiding the lettering.
Don't have any tissue paper but do have an air-erasable marker pen? Use the pen to draw around the heart template directly onto the felt then write HUG in the centre. You could also use an ordinary felt tip for this but some of the pen marks will remain visible on the finished heart.
3. Embroider the lettering. I used three of the six strands from my embroidery thread (floss). You can sew white lettering like I did, or choose any colour that contrasts nicely with (and will stand out clearly from) the felt.
Sew the lettering with backstitch, following the pen lines and using smaller stitches as you sew around curves (this will help make the curves smoother and neater).
4. Remove the tacking stitches then cut out your heart, cutting through the tissue paper and felt at the same time.
If you've used a pen to draw your heart, just cut along the pen line.
5. Carefully tear away the tissue paper then use your felt heart as a template to cut a second felt heart shape.
6. Place the two heart shapes together and sew around the edge with matching sewing thread. I used blanket stitch but whip stitch also works well.
Make sure you leave a gap big enough for your finger so you can stuff the heart in a moment.
7. Use toy stuffing to stuff the heart. Stuff it lightly, gradually adding small pieces of stuffing so you fill the shape evenly.
Don't have any toy stuffing? Use felt scraps instead! Cut them nice and small then add them to the heart in place of stuffing.
8. Finish your hug by sewing up the gap with more blanket or whip stitches and finishing your stitching neatly at the back.
And that's it: one happy little hug to send to a pal.
Click here for more lockdown craft ideas!
(The rainbow boxes would make fab gift boxes for sending your hugs. You could draw a smiling yellow sun in the bottom of the box when you colour it in then add your hug to the box, or use the sun template to make round hugs instead of heart-shaped ones).
This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it to stitch as many hugs as you want for yourself or as gifts, but please don't make any for sale. You may borrow a couple of photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to this page on my blog, and do not reproduce my entire post on your site. Thanks!
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