It’s a card! It’s a pin! Wait, you’re both right! This all-in-one Valentine gift combines a sweet heart-shaped card with a cute gathered flower pin to wear on a coat, hat, purse or headband. I love projects that can multi-task, don’t you?

Thanks to our friends at Moda Fabrics for providing us with their Hoopla pre-cuts for all our Valentines projects. Though not a traditional ‘hearts & flowers’ motif, we love the bright and happy colors and playful patterns.

If these flowers have you wishing for spring, you might also want to try our Organza Flowers. You have a bouquet hiding in your scrap fabric bin!

There’s a fair amount of hand stitching in this project; if you are new to pulling out the ol’ needle and thread, check out these tutorials:

Hand Sewing: Thread the Needle & Tie the Knot

Hand Sewing: The Basics

How to Sew on a Button

Sewing Tools You Need

• Any Sewing Machine (we recommend the Janome 2206)

Fabric and Other Supplies

Supplies listed are for ONE Valentine Flower Pin Card, but certainly you need more than that!

• Jelly roll strips – each flower pin uses just half of two of the forty 2½” x 44″ strips that come in a standard pack; if you don’t have any or choose not to use Jelly Roll strips, you’ll need to cut one 2″ x 22″ strip and one 1½” x 22″ strip): we used a variety of Jelly Roll strips in Hoopla by Moda Fabrics
• Two 8½” x 11″ sheets of 65-80# card stock in coordinating colors: we used 65# stock in pink, red and white
• Scrap or one sheet of heavy felt in coordinating color: we used pink, red and white craft felt from Jo-Ann Fabric
• All purpose thread to match fabrics
• Six-seven Glue Dots
• Small jewelry pin backs: we used 1″ pin backs in gold, which we found at Michaels Crafts
• One large or one large and one small button for center accent
• See-through ruler
• Iron and ironing board
• Rotary cutter and mat
• Small, sharp scissors for trimming frayed edges and threads
• Straight pins
• Hand sewing needle

Getting Started

1. Download and print the Flower Pin Card Back Template and the Flower Pin Card Front Template. Set aside
   IMPORTANT: Each template consists of ONE 8.5″ x 11″ sheet. You must print the PDF files at 100%. DO NOT SCALE to fit the page.
2. Select the Jelly Roll strips (or other fabric strips) that will become the two layers of your flower. Mix and match however you’d like, but we found that a darker color in the back and a light color in the front was a good look.
3. The back strip should be cut to 2″ x 22″. If you have a Jelly Roll, this means you cut the strip in half then trim ½” from the width.
4. The front strip should be cut to 1½” x 22″. If you have a Jelly Roll, this means you cut the strip in half then trim 1″ from the width.
5. With the right side of both strips facing up, align the raw edges of the two strips along one long side and pin in place.
   

At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board

1. Set your machine for a long basting stitch and stitch along the pinned edge with an approximate 3/8″ seam allowance. This will be your stitch for gathering so do NOT back tack at either end of the seam.
2. Gently pull on the bobbin thread to gather up the strip as tightly as possible. It will naturally form a circle. 
   
3. If you are new to gathering, we have a Gathers & Ruffles tutorial you can review.
4. Using your small, sharp scissors, trim the long basting thread tails and the frayed fabric along the center raw edges that occur with hand gathering.
5. Fold back each end of the strip approximately 1″ to create a mini hem.
6. Set you machine for a wide zig zag stitch and stitch each mini hem in place. 
   
   NOTE: You can really use whatever stitch you’d like. I chose a zig zag stitch because I thought it fit the fun style of the pins better than a straight stitch.
7. Fold one end back again by about 1″ and overlap the two ends. I was able to simply hold my fabric circle together from this point forward, but you could also put in a pin to hold it closed. 
   
8. Thread the hand sewing needle and knot the end. Go around the center gathers with a simple running stitch, pulling the thread taut with each stitch. This will pull the gathers close together into the center.
   
9. Do not knot or cut the thread yet, instead place your large button over the center gathers so it covers them. You can continue to stitch and pull the gathers into the center with your needle and thread if needed until they are tight enough to hide under the button.
10. Using the same needle and thread, hand stitch the button securely in place. Okay… now you can knot and cut your thread at the back. 
    
11. Leave the center as one button or add another smaller button to the center. I used a Glue Dot to adhere my second button. 
    
12. Cut a circle of felt approximately the same size as your large button.
13. Put two Glue Dots on a jewelry pin back and adhere the pin bar to the center of the felt circle. Carefully trim away any of the Glue Dots that might stick out on either side of the pin bar.
    NOTE: You could also hand stitch the pin bar in place. I was too lazy to do that!
14. Whip stitch the felt circle in place to hide the gathers from the back and complete the pin.
    

Make the hinged heart card

1. Find your Front and Back template print outs.
2. Cut out each heart card template along the solid line. 
   
3. Place the templates on your colored card stock and trace around the outside edge of each.
   
4. With an awl or the end of your small, sharp scissors, mark the approximate position of the holes to insert the pin onto the front of the card. I say approximate because the size and shape of the pin bars vary.
   
5. It’s also helpful to mark the positions for the hinge fold and the Glue Dots on the back of the card.
   
6. Fold the card back along the hinge line and apply four Glue Dots as marked.
   
7. Place the card front right side down on your work surface. The heart tops should be opposite one another and the Glue Dots facing down toward the card front. Align the cards so the center points of the hearts match up and the sides are flush at the widest point. 
   
8. Finger press in place.
9. Flip the card over, open and write a heartfelt message on the inside back. 
   

Project Design: Alicia Thommas    
Sample Creation: Liz Johnson