To say Happy Valentineโs Day to you, my sweet stitching friends, please enjoy a free sewing pattern for DIY pattern weights.
The Lovey-Dovey sewing pattern weights compose a three-piece set โ a heart, an X, and an O โ โค๏ธโโญ.
Theyโre V-Day appropriate, but you could easily stitch them in non-V-Day fabric and no one would give them a sideways glance.
Heck, if you were so inclined, you could make only Xโs and Oโs for a tic-tac-toe game set.
Following is a photographed tutorial for what Iโm calling the Lovey-Dovey sewing pattern weights DIY.
What You Need to Sew the DIY Pattern Weights
Gather the following to sew the pattern weights.
- Printer
- Paper scissors
- 1/4 yard 44-inch quilting fabric (a 9-by-44-inch piece)
- Fabric cutting tool
- Iron and ironing board
- Fabric marking tool
- Pins
- Sewing machine
- Point turner, tube turner, or chopstick to turn the pattern weights right side out
- Uncooked rice (or pattern weight filler of your choice)
- Funnel (optional)
- Hand sewing needle (optional)
How to Sew the Lovey-Dovey DIY Pattern Weights
Download and print the pattern. The pattern will fit on letter- and A4-sized paper.
Do not scale, and don’t forget to measure the test square.
Cut out the pattern.
Place the paper pattern pieces on the fabric. The pictured yardage is just shy of 1/4 yard.
BTW, fabric grain doesn’t matter for the pattern weights.
Cut two of each pattern weight shape.
Leave about a 1.5 inch gap (yellow dashed line) for turning the unfilled pattern weight right side out. Mark start and stop points for the gaps as you pin right sides together.
The gap for the “X” pattern weight must be at a short side so the weight can be filled with rice.
Sew the weights, right sides together, with a 0.25-inch seam allowance (noted on pattern pieces).
Backstitch at beginning and end of gap.
The yellow circles show the openings in the sew pattern weights.
I like to sew a straight stitch (no pivot) at corners to help create a sharper point when the pattern is turned right side out. This is especially important at the top point (cupid’s bow) of the heart.
The straight stitch gives the seam allowance extra room to spread when the pattern is turned right side out. More spread = less bulk = sharper corners.
Trim seam allowance to about one-eighth inch. Leave the seam allowance by the gap at one-quarter inch. A longer seam allowance will make it easier to sew the gap closed.
The yellow circles above show how the 0.25-inch seam allowance at the gaps is blended into the trimmed 1/8-inch seam allowance.
Turn the pattern weights right side out using a point turner, tube turner, chopstick, or another favorite implement.
Press with right sides out. Shape the pattern weights’ corners and edges.
Press under the 0.25-inch seam allowances at the gap, too.
Cut a few triangles (notches) out of the 0.25-inch seam allowance of the gap in the “O.” This will help the curved seam allowance turn to the inside more smoothly while pressing. Don’t notch deeper than 0.25 inches into the seam allowance.
Time to mark topstitching.
Find a round object, such as a bottle cap, to trace that’s about 1.5-inches in diameter.
Trace the round object with a marking tool.
Next mark the topstitching guides for the “X” pattern weight.
To start, fold the “X” paper pattern piece in half twice (fold, rotate 90 degrees, fold) to find its center. Mark the center.
To find the center of the fabric pattern weight, also fold it in half twice. Mark the center.
Align the centers of the “X” fabric pattern weight and the “X” paper pattern piece with a pin.
Make sure the fabric pattern piece is centered on the wrong side of the paper pattern piece.
Pin the fabric pattern piece in place.
Turn the unit over so that the right side of the paper pattern piece is facing up.
Take a pin and press it through the point of each topstitching angle (through the paper and through the fabric).
The pins transfer the location of the topstitching angles to the fabric pattern weight.
Mark the topstitching point locations with a marking tool. (Notice the white chalk marks at the base of the pins.)
Remove the pins.
Now you know where to topstitch the angles, from corner to point to corner.
Here are the topstitched “O” and “X” pattern weights. (The heart does not need topstitching.)
The fabric pattern weights are ready to be filled with uncooked rice.
Fill the pattern weights with rice through the opening, making sure to evenly distribute the volume of the rice.
In other words, squeeze and shake the rice while filling so there aren’t any empty pockets. This is especially important with the “O” and “X” weights.
You may find a funnel helps to fill the weights.
After filling the weights, stitch the 1.5-inch gap closed. (The gap stitching is in the yellow boxes.)
You can sew the gap closed by sewing machine or by hand sewing.
A sewing machine is the faster option, but the stitching will be visible. (These weights feature machine stitching.)
Hand sewing will be invisible โ I recommend a slip stitch, which you can learn in this post: 5 Hand Sewing Techniques Every Garment Sewist Should Know โ but it will take longer vs. machine stitching.
Eek, they turned out so cute! What a sweet present for a fellow sewist… or for yourself. โค๏ธ
Having special pattern weights is yet another way to customize your sewing practice.
These DIY pattern weights also are the perfect stashbuster. My polka-dot weights were sewn with cotton quilting fabric, but I think most tightly woven fabrics would work fine.
Ready to sew your own Lovey-Dovey pattern weights? Click the image below to download the two-page PDF pattern.
If you like this freebie โ and other articles on Sie Macht โ you should sign up for the weekly email! In fact, subscribers got a sneak peek YESTERDAY at the Lovey-Dovey pattern weights. Plus, I’ve been chatting about upcoming garment sewing patterns. Don’t. Miss. Out!
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P.S. When you sew the DIY pattern weights, please share and tag #smloveydovey. Thanks!