I loved making these sweet little Valentine’s Day heart treat bags. The colours were so poppy, and the project was just too much fun. They turned out better than I had expected.

Making your own fabric appliques from fusing is the easiest thing in the world to do. It takes no time at all to make them and you can fuse them to any fabric item you want.

Pull string treat bags with applique hearts

I decided to make some treat bags for Valentine’s Day, but halfway through the project I thought about making a pillow, or even some cute tea towels, or jazzing up a plain apron with some appliques.

I mean suddenly everything in my house was considered a location to slap a fabric heart.

Image of Valentine's treat bags lined up in a grid.

Speaking of crafting hearts, I have a few more Valentine’s day craft projects you may want to check out.

Materials To Make Treat Bags for Valentine’s Day

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I only ever recommend what tools or materials I use for my projects. I also test all my projects before publishing and if something doesn’t work, I don’t share it! ~

I used a few pink pattern pieces from a charm pack as well as a few solids. The solid pack I bought was a fat quarter Moda pack for Valentine’s Day.

But you don’t need that much fabric. You only need a few small matching pieces.

I say raid your scrap fabric stash for this one and find some matching patterns.

Materials

Double Sided Fusing
Fabric Patterns
Fabric Solids
Embroidery Floss (optional) I like DMC brand floss, but this kit was very good and very inexpensive. It’s the set I used for this tutorial.
Cotton Muslin Drawstring Bags

If you decide to make the hang-tags

Scrapbook Paper (different colours, scraps are good)
1 sheet of letter-size white paper

You can find the download for the free hanger tags in the “Freebie Area” at the top of this page.

Tools

Iron (any iron will do, this happens to be the one I have)
Ironing Board
Embroidery Needle
Sharp Scissors
Paper Cutter (for the labels)

pattern and solid fabric squares in pinks with small canvas tie string pull bags and embrodiery floss

Step 1: Press Fusing to Your Patterned Fabric

Give your fabric scraps and pull tie bags a good press to make sure they are perfectly flat with no creases. If you leave creases in the fabric they will show when the appliques are ironed to your Valentines goodie bags. We don’t want that, we want a perfectly flat heart that fuses perfectly to the tie string bags.

Once your scrap fabric pieces are pressed, you can attach them to your fusing.

Cut your fusing pieces smaller than your fabric piece and place them underneath. Pass an iron, set on med-high heat, over the fabric pieces.

Your fusing package will have specific instructions for how long it will take to have your fusing connect to your fabric. Mine said 6 seconds, and that’s exactly how long it took. Double check the instructions to make sure you follow the directions for the fusing you purchased.

Using an iron to press fusing to patterned fabric to create an applique.

Step 2: Cut Out Fabric Hearts

Create a small heart pattern for the front of your Valentines treat bags.

I used a piece of kraft paper and kept cutting out hearts until I found one where I liked the shape that fit well on the front of my tie string bags.

Once you have your heart pattern you can begin to cut out your fabric hearts from your fused fabric.

Use a sharp pair of scissors to cut out your hearts. I find a sharp pair of scissors creates a fray-free edge and makes the final product look much cleaner.

Also, I am kind of obsessed now with pink gingham. It’s so pretty!

Cut out heart appliques ready to be fused to treat bags.

Step 3: Fuse Hearts to The Valentines Candy Bags

Once your hearts are cut out you can start to fuse them to your fabric bags.

Peel the backs from your hearts and use an iron set on med-high heat and press your hearts to your Valentine treat bag.

Once your heart is pressed to the tie string bags, give the edge a quick to check to make sure the hearts are fused all the way around. If you find an area that isn’t fused just give it a quick press with the iron again.

It’s super simple and takes no time at all to press all your hearts to your bags.

At this point, the tie string heart bags are already pretty cute. You don’t even need to do anything else with them, but I felt they needed a bit more texture.

Canvas draw string bags with hearts in a circle

Step 4: Add a Decorative Stitch

I added a bit of floss around a few of my bags and I really loved the way it looked. A quick blanket stitch or small stitches around the edging really added an extra pop.

I also added a wagon spoke rose to a few of the plainer bags. They are so much fun to do and so simple and add a nice touch. I found a great tutorial here at Flamingotoes.

The wagon spoke roses are SO pretty, and a great beginner embroidery project.

Embroidery floss ranging from light pink to purple wound around clothespins.

Step 5: Print and Attach Tags

Add a few hang tags to your treat bags and you’re ready for Valentine’s Day!

I cut out my labels from standard 8.5 x 11-inch white paper and used a glue stick to add them to pieces of scrapbook paper. A small bit of twine or ribbon to attach your labels to your bag is all you need.

They add a nice touch to the bags and make them quite giftable.

You could also try printing these tags on a fill sheet label and turn them into Valentines day stickers!

You can find the download for our heart tags in our free resource area. Just click on “Freebie Area” at the top of this page, fill out the form, and a password will be sent so you can access your freebie!

Valentine's day treat bags with pink hearts and gift tags

Make a few Valentine’s Day treat bags to give away a sweet treat to the sweethearts in your life

These heart treat bags make a cute Valentine’s Day giveaway, and great party favors. Instead of handing out Valentine’s Day cards this year, why not hand out a sweet treat in a sweetheart bag.

This is a great project to use up some scrap fabric. If you’re in a sewing mood you could even make your own pull string bags and turn it into a truly homemade DIY project from start to finish.

These would also make a cute birthday giveaway bags, or even treat bags for a child’s sleepover. Or make the bags in advance, but let the kids decorate them any way they want! A pile of buttons or beads, some paints, or ribbon would make for a fun sleepover project.

Also, don’t forget to stuff them with candy, because that was the entire point.

Sweets for your sweeties!

Valentine's Day treat bags with applique hearts

Editorial Note: This post was originally published on December 13, 2018, and was updated on January 6, 2023.