Hearts are an ever popular motif. It’s easy to cut out a template yourself in a variety of styles that you could use for applique or for quilting designs.
Watch this short video, or follow the instructions below:
Drawing a regular heart shape
- Take a piece of paper a little larger than the desired motif, and fold it in half.
- Starting at the bottom of the fold, cut out on a straight line at an angle towards the middle of the long edge
- When nearly at the edge, start to curve round. Continue to cut in a curve, aiming to end a little way down the centre fold
- Open out – and you should have a heart shape!
- Different styles of heart can be made by changing the size and proportions of the initial piece of paper – experiment to see how this works.
- Draw round part of a circle template, or use a pair of compasses if you find it difficult to cut a smooth curve. Cutting the first cut as a shallow concave curve rather than as a straight line will also affect the style.
- Once you have the idea, you could try cutting a whole heart freehand, aiming this time for a slightly asymmetric “folk art” look. Don’t fold the paper first!
So easy – how could you incorporate hearts into your next project?
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