I started out this project series about Geo Hearts on Tuesday, with a angular heart on my magnetic chalkboard.
That afternoon I stopped by my favorite quilt shop, Tomorrow’s Treasures, in Crystal River to pick up some pink fabric for a different project and found these charm packs by Moda which I couldn’t resist.
Perfect for a “Geo Heart Tea Towel”
Okay, now here comes the boring sewing instructions, if you don’t sew, it’s time to move on to another blog–like Badzoot! If you do sew, this is a relatively easy project–just time-consuming.
I already had some Moda Woven Toweling when I made tea towels way back in July. It comes in yards and is finished on both sides and it can be cut to any length. I bought the toweling from www.fabric.com.
When I make tea towels or anything that will be washed and dried, I always prewash and dry for shrinkage. With these tea towels, I washed and dried the toweling and both charm packs. (Tip– wash and dry those small pieces in a lingerie bag so you don’t lose even one of those precious little gems.) The toweling started out as 16” but shrunk to 15 ¼” and the blocks shrunk a bit, too.
The mini-charm pack has 2 1/4″ squares. The squares in the regular charm pack are 5″. I picked four of the large coordinating pieces then 10 of the mini blocks.
I sewed the large blocks together with 1/2″ seams. I wanted the tea towel to be finished on the front and back—no seams to fray–so I cut a piece of muslin the same size as the four joined blocks and sewed them together along one long edge.
I want the finished towel to be 25″ so I cut a 22″ length from the Moda Woven Toweling.
Center the block strip rights sides together on the towel fabric, the strip should be ½” wider on each side than the towel.
Stitch, press seam down. Press raw edge of strip under ½”.
Fold block strip right sides together up to meet seam on towel. The ½ “ pressed edge will meet the seam. Sew ½ “ seams along edges making sure not to catch in the towel sides.
Trim the corners, turn the strip right side out, and use a chopstick (or something similar) to poke the corners out. Make sure the pressed edge is right on the seam of towel. I usually just turn it right side up then top stitch to catch the pressed edge. But this time I topstitched around each block–about 1/8″ from each side.
On the other raw edge of the towel, press under ¼” , then press under another 1/2″ and stitch.
Now it’s time for the geo heart. I cut each one of the 10 mini charms diagonally. Then I created the design.
Stitched all the edges together with 1/8″ seams, one strip at a time.
I laid the heart shape on Heat n Bond Lite and cut around it to create an applique. Adhere it to the wrong side according to the directions. Remove the paper lining, then center it on the towel and press again. Then I top-stitched 1/8″ inside each little triangle. Finally, I finished the applique with a satin stitch around the entire heart.
If all goes well, I might have another Geo Heart Project for Friday!