Valentine Strawberries from Scraps

I love Valentine's Day! It was my favorite holiday a a child, and now a lot of the fun for me is making little treasures for friends and family. Since I seem to think in fabric, these little projects often involve sewing.

This year my red scraps of fabric inspired a luscious pile of strawberries, which I think I'll give in little boxes, with shiny strawberry hard candies to add bling. Each berry takes:

-a scrap of red fabric about 3 1/2 by 3 1/2 inches
-red thread
-a small amount of fiber stuffing
-a bit of green lace, ribbon, trim or button for the cap
-craft glue



1. For the pattern: measuring from the corner of a piece of paper along each side, mark points at 3 1/2 inches. Mark several more points between these two, measuring 3 1/2 inches from the corner. Connect the marks to form a curved line, and cut out the pattern. (To change the size of the berry, increase or decrease this measurement.)


2. Cut one piece from the scrap of red fabric.


3. With right sides together, match straight edges and sew, using a 1/4" seam. Trim off a small triangle of the seam allowance at the point, so the point will turn smoothly. Turn and carefully push the point out fully, using scissors or a pencil point, or pull last bit of point out with a pin.


4. Turning in a 1/4" seam allowance, gather around the top of the berry with a needle and thread. Stuff softly with fiber stuffing, pushing the stuffing down well into the point with a pencil or scissors. (I love 'Cluster Stuff' fiber stuffing! It has a little 'spring' to it, and stuffs softly and smoothly.) When the berry is full, pull on your thread to close the top tightly, and take several small stitches across the closure to secure.


5. Now the fun part! The caps of the berries are made of bits of green trim and notions from around the house--buttons, lace, ribbon, etc--glued to the top of the berries with craft glue.

The bright green appliques on the left were on a card in the craft aisle at the dollar store--they make perfect strawberry caps! I crocheted the leaves in the upper middle, and on the left are gathered scraps of green ribbon under a button. At the bottom are green rickrack scraps with buttons--it was fun to see what I could come up with.

They look good enough to eat!