Valentine's Day Fashion DIY

How many of you have seen the darling sweater with heart elbow patches floating around Instagram? I see it all the time and it inspired me to create my own version! With Valentine's Day around the corner, and McKinley's class party that afternoon, this little sweatshirt is going to be perfect! 

The top that inspired it all! Isn't it too cute?

Here's what you'll need:

A sweatshirt, a red sweater, a heart shaped cookie cutter, and a pen. This will get you started.

I found the sweatshirt at Target on the clearance rack for $9 and the red sweater at Savers for $3.99. I had a 20% off coupon at Savers from our last donation so I actually spent a little over $3 for the sweater.

Turn the sweater inside out that you're going to use to trace your heart. This way the pen mark won't be on the right side of the garment.

Place your cookie cutter on the sweater. I placed it as far down on the sweater as possible so that I have the remainder of the sweater for a different project. Also, make sure your sweater is a tightly woven fabric. You don't want it to fray once you cut it.

Guess what! The pen didn't show up so I switched to a Sharpie. 

Cut out your heart. Oh, and with the fabric doubled over, you will have two hearts! You need two anyway, right?

Two hearts!

Even though the fabric is a tight weave, I went ahead and used Fray Check to keep the hearts from fraying. Allow to dry for a minute or so before using your hearts.

 You will need someone to help you with this part. Try on the top to pin the hearts in the place you want. I knew I wanted mine slightly above the elbow. My mom measured the bottom of the heart to the top of my elbow so that each heart was as centered and roughly the same height as possible. Pin them in place with a safety pin.

Once pinned, start gluing. I left the pin in place and glued around it. I started in the center and moved around the edges and bottom of the heart and pressed down. From there, I removed the pin and glued the heart from the center up. You want to use a fabric glue for this so you can wash it and the hearts won't come away from the top. You can always go back and do a loop stitch to secure it even more.

The glue dries clear so don't worry if any seeps out the side. I tried to clean it up a little, but you won't see it in the end.

Here is the end result!

I love it!! It turned out exactly how I imagined it would! I can't wait to wear it next week! It's so soft and warm to boot. I've always known it, but now I can tell everyone that I truly wear my heart on my sleeve!

XO,

Andrea