Make a Heart Garland with Free Printable Heart Templates



For Valentine's Day, I wanted to make a heart garland from felt fabric that I could then hang across my daughter's fireplace. Although I can stitch by hand and machine and enjoy lots of sewing crafts, I wanted a DIY project that was quick and easy to make.

I came up with a heart garland DIY project that requires the absolute minimum of sewing in order to make it quickly. Alternatively, you can skip any stitching and just stick to glue instead for a really easy no-sew option.

Felt is an ideal fabric to use for garlands, bunting and banners because it is a fairly tough material and long-lasting. It makes for a much more permanent decoration than paper. Since the edges of it do not fray, it is easier to work with than most other fabrics and requires no hemming.

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Materials and Tools to Make a Heart Garland


DIY craft make heart banner from felt

The fireplace in my daughter's room is a chalk-white color and I knew that a cute little hanging decoration would really finish it off well as become a fun part of her bedroom decor. You can see how I made this garland design in less than an hour.
  • Felt fabric in 2 different shades, patterns or colors
  • Some buttons to add on as cute embellishments 
  • Twine, cord or thick string for hanging up your garland
  • Sewing thread and a needle
  • Glue gun (optional)
  • Scissors
  • Water soluble fabric marker pen
  • My free printable heart templates (below) if you don't have your own

Instructions to Make an Easy Valentine Garland of Hearts

Here's how I made a very quick and easy little felt banner to decorate my daughter's bedroom fireplace up for Valentine's Day. I created it in under an hour and that was also with pausing to take photos as I went along and made it.

Since you can use up those small leftover pieces of felt, this project is ideal for finding something to do with those odd scraps of fabric.


It can make great use of scraps to turn them into a sweet little piece of hanging decor instead. You can also use the heart pattern template on this page to make the project even easier.

1: Decide on Your Felt Fabrics and Gather the Materials Needed

pink polka dot felt fabric and materials to make a DIY garland

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

Shown in the photo are all the basic items needed to complete this project. The heart shapes I printed out to use as templates to draw around are pretty small but you can use larger hearts or even make your own.

I chose to use some dark raspberry pink felt along with a dotty design. I had full sheets in these but you can also choose to use up some little scraps of felt with this project.


I like to use a reasonable quality acrylic felt for my craft projects. Pure wool felt is very expensive in comparison and it is normally too soft to hold a very defined shape when cut. Acrylic felt tends to be stiffer and you get sharp lines when you cut into it.

DIY Polyester Felt Nonwoven Fabric Sheet for Craft Work 40 Colors Squares 11.81x11.81inch (30x30cm), About 1mm Thick, Type B (Type B 1mm)Edukit Acrylic Felt A4 Sheets - 15 Assorted Colours


Outline Sewing Heart Template I Made for This Project

Click on the image to open up the full size which is best for printing and choose "Save As" or "Save Image As" to download it.

heart template sewing

This free printable is for your personal use only. You are welcome to blog about how you've used this freebie along with your own photos providing that you include a link back to this page.

2: Trace around the Heart Shapes Templates onto the Back of the Felt

Using a water soluble fabric marker pen on the back of felt fabric

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

You will need to use a couple of heart-shaped templates that you can trace around. You need one larger one and a smaller one to fit inside. I've got some outline hearts that are suitable on this page. Print or draw your hearts on some thick card that you can use as a template to trace around.

You can use a pen or tailor's chalk to mark around the heart templates on to the back of your felt fabric. There are a lot of different ways to mark fabric and you may already have a favorite method.

You normally trace on the back so that the front remains perfect. I prefer to use my water-soluble fabric marker pens.

3: Cut Out All the Larger Hearts

Pink polka dot felt fabric hearts for garland bunting

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

First draw out and then cut all the larger heart shapes. Since my garland was only going across a small fireplace, I only needed 7 of these in total. You may need to work just out how many of these you need based on where you plan to hang the garland.

4: Trace and Cut Out the Smaller Hearts

dark pink felt fabric hearts to make bunting

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

Now trace out and cut all the smaller heart pieces. I liked this raspberry shade of pink that seemed to make a good contrast against the candy pink polka dot felt fabric on the larger ones.

5: Place the Smaller Hearts Inside the Larger Ones

Layering up pink felt hearts to make a banner bunting

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

Next place the smaller heart shapes inside the center of the larger pieces. You don't need to stick them down, just position them where they are going to go.

6: Sew or Stick Buttons in the Middle

Sewing on buttons to fabric heart shapes

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

Choose some cute buttons that you feel work well with your chosen colors of fabric. I picked out some cool colored blue and lilac color buttons to contrast a little with the pink fabrics.

Stitch a button into the center of each heart and this will quickly secure all the layers of fabric together in one go. Alternatively, you could stick each item together using a glue gun if you prefer a no-sew option.

100pcs Mixed Wooden Buttons in Bulk Buttons for Crafts Button Round Colorful Painting Buttons Bu-91Rosey's Craft Shops® Exclusive Random Button Mix Wooden And Resin Embellishments

7: A Glue Gun Speeds Up the Time it Takes to Make the Heart Banner

glue gun used along back of bunting design

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

You could stitch the hearts on the cord, twine or ribbon that you're using for your banner. However this is an unnecessary chore if you happen to have a glue gun.

It's so much quicker to lay down a little hot glue across the back of each completed heart and then lay the cord ot twine into the glue to secure it in place. Do this near the top of each heart so that they hang down nicely when the garland is complete.

Information on Using Glue Guns



8: The Finished Valentine Garland of Hearts

Pink felt hearts and button banner design

Image Credit: photo belongs to the author.

Here is my finished garland project. This was quick and simple to make with a minimal amount of sewing or fuss. And it now it looks very cute hanging up in my daughter's room. You could try one of these in colors to match up with where you plan to hang it.

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Articles are accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge. Content is for informational or entertainment purposes only and does not substitute for personal counsel or professional advice in business, financial, legal, or technical matters.