Tracing paper and some fancy iron-on transfer pencils mean making the template is actually relatively straightforward and I’m already congratulating myself on the marvel of pencil based technology. It looks like a heart, these things look like birds, and the other bits don’t really look like wings but hang on in there.

What I hadn’t bargained for was just how flipping difficult it is to sew round corners. And there are two of them. Three if you count the bottom of the heart. And I certainly do count it after my second attempt at sewing it. By now, previously discarded templates were strewn around in various stages of decomposition, and there had been many uses of the stitch quick unpick (for those not in the know, it's not that quick). Once I finally had two birds and their contrasting wings zigzag stitched onto the heart shape, beads sewn on for eyes, I then had to stuff the thing. Growing up there were loads of little shops selling kapok and other assorted haberdashery but the decline of the high street, disappearance of small independent retailers, and dependence of people on rapid turnaround high street wardrobe quick fixes have done these out of business.

Undeterred, I improvised by stuffing several pairs of tights into the corners. Except a heart shouldn’t really have corners; or one side higher than the other. Finally, once stuffed, I had to sew up the last two inches of seam, a pretty fiddly process. That seam is definitely not a refined and lovely finish.

Once completed, I felt the inevitable surge of joy at seeing something I had made myself and ignored the lumpy, knobbly bits, the odd shaped right ventricle, and wonky wing. It was mine, I had made it, how could he not appreciate it? Needless to say, a trip to Oxford Street beckons...

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Picture credit: Rex Features

Crafty Valentine's