Put Your Heart on Your Sleeve (Literally!) with Perfect Appliqué Fusible Web

Whip up a Heart on Your Sleeve Sweatshirt in no time. This is a great Valentine’s Day or date-night garment, which is easily dressed up or down depending on your accessories and shoes.

HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE SWEATSHIRT SUPPLIES

• Purchased sweatshirt
• 5″ x 10″ rectangle of medium- to heavyweight knit fabric
• Sulky Perfect Appliqué™ Fusible Web
• 12 wt. Cotton Blendables® Petites™ Thread
• Sulky KK 2000™ Temporary Spray Adhesive
• Hand sewing needle

HEART TEMPLATE

Create a heart template for the sweatshirt using plain old paper or card stock. Fold a 5″ square in half and draw half of a heart.

Cut along the line, and then open up the heart. Place it against your elbow to ensure it fits.

FABRIC PREP

Wash and dry the sweatshirt and knit fabric in the same manner as you will for the finished garment. Iron the fabric and sweatshirt to remove any wrinkles.

Try on the sweatshirt and use the heart template to mark each appliqué center placement along the sleeve. Make sure the bulk of the hearts are covering the elbow area, if desired. If you don’t have a helper, it’s easiest to pin-mark this placement on each sleeve.

Take off the sweatshirt and adjust each pin-mark so they’re symmetrical.

Fuse a rectangle of Perfect Appliqué to the wrong side of the knit fabric square. (It may be difficult to discern the fabric wrong side. Typically, knits roll to the right side when stretched. Or, pick a side and stick with it! If you can’t tell, no one else will, either.)

After fusing, draw two hearts on the paper side of the fusible web. Cut out each heart.

HEART ON YOUR SLEEVE APPLIQUÉ

Place each heart on each sweatshirt sleeve, using the pin marks as a center placement guide. Use KK 2000 to temporarily secure the appliqué hearts in place, and then remove the placement pin-marks.

Set the iron on a low- to medium heat. Fuse each heart in place, lifting the iron up and down (rather than back and forth) until completely fused.

Let the sweatshirt cool.

TIP: It’s important to study the fabric content of your sweatshirt before applying fusible web to ensure it can withstand heat from an iron!

SWEATSHIRT STITCHING

Thread the hand sewing needle with two strands of Cotton Petites Thread. A Blendables variety gives a nice color variation without having to swap thread colors during the stitching process.

Hand stitch the heart appliqués. Choose a blanket stitch, running stitch or even a whipstitch, depending on the desired final look.

TIP: To ensure the stitches are the same width apart (in this case, 1/4″ from each other), mark quarter-inch marks on your thumb to use as a guide during the stitching process.

Knot the thread tails at the stitching beginning. When stitching is complete, bring the threads to the back of the work and tightly knot them close to the fabric wrong side without causing puckering or bunching. Then, trim the thread ends.

TIP: Add a hand stitched phrase to the heart center, if desired. Or choose a print knit fabric for the hearts for a pop of color and fun.

Now, it’s time to wear your heart(s) on your sleeve(s)!