DIY Jeweled Heart Sweatshirt

My bank account was victim to another impulse buy recently. I was buying some balloons for this shoot and these black jewels just happened to fall into my (online) shopping cart. You know how that goes. So it was time to think of a DIY so I could put them to good use! And with all things hearts on the brain, a jeweled heart sweatshirt seemed like just the thing! So be-jewel a sweatshirt I did. This was so easy and it’s so perfect for Valentine’s Day (and every other day in the month of February. And every month…). I kind of want to buy a million sweatshirts and be-jewel them all. Bejeweled pineapple sweatshirt anyone!? (YES!) But first, the heart.

Plain Sweatshirt (I got this one at H&M for SO cheap! Man, I love that store. I also got shoes for $5.)
Black Jewels (I used two packs for this and had maybe a dozen gems leftover.)
Freezer Paper
Pencil
Iron
E-6000 Glue

I’m not very good at freehanding hearts, so I decided to use a stencil to make mine all nice and purdy. I drew a heart the size I wanted on the freezer paper (Well, I traced one off the computer. Computers are the best lightboxes!) and cut it out. Then I carefully centered it on the sweatshirt and ironed the freezer paper, glossy side down, onto my sweatshirt.

Then it was time to lay out the jewels! There’s no scientific method to this, folks. (Which is good, science is not my thing.) Lay out your jewels and start placing them within your heart shape. It’s a little bit trail-and-error, lay out a bunch and step back and take a look, then adjust. Once you have your jewels laid out, you just need to glue them in place! One by one, place some of your glue on the back of each gem (if you get the same gems I did, just pull off the little adhesive paper on the back and get rid of it, we’re ignoring the adhesive already on it!) and place it back in it’s spot. Press firmly and continue on your way around the heart. Let dry according to the glues direction and you are DONE!

I used E-6000 glue because it’s super strong and it’s washable. I’d recommend turning it outside out and running it through on a gentle cycle!

All Photos by Studio DIY

Exciting bit of news! This is the very sweatshirt I wore when I officially picked up the keys to the new studio yesterday!!! See, told ya it’s not just for Valentine’s Day!

For more Valentine’s Day DIYs, head over here.