A Sweet Print That Does More Than Valentine's Day
Hearts can be surprisingly versatile. When they are scattered small across a fabric, rather than printed large and centered, they behave almost like a texture — cheerful up close, and lively but not overwhelming from across the room. The Love You Always Hearts print in red is a good example: scattered hearts on a pin dot background, in a classic red that suits quilts, apparel, and home decor well beyond February. Learning how to work with a small scattered motif like this helps you place it with confidence in almost any project.
What This Fabric Is
This is a quilting cotton from the Love You Always collection by Sandy Gervais for Riley Blake Designs. It is 100 percent cotton, 43/44 inches wide, and sold by the yard. The print features scattered hearts on a pin dot background, and the collection is described as great for quilting, apparel, and home decor.
Two layers of pattern are at work here. The hearts give you the theme and the focal motif, while the tiny pin dots underneath add quiet texture and keep the red ground from reading flat. That combination is why the fabric works at more than one scale: cut it into small pieces and you still get dots and partial hearts for movement, or use a larger piece and the full scatter of hearts shows clearly.
What It Is Best For
In quilts, this red heart print is a natural accent. Use it for patchwork squares and rectangles, sashing, inner borders, and binding where you want a strong, warm frame. It is especially effective in Valentine's, anniversary, wedding, and baby quilts, and in any project where red is meant to lead rather than simply support other colors.
Beyond quilts, try it for apparel and home decor: a simple skirt or child's dress, pillow covers, a table runner, placemats, or fabric gift bags. Because the hearts are scattered rather than arranged in rows, the print does not need to be upright to look right, which makes it forgiving for projects that get turned and viewed from many directions.
Cutting and Piecing a Scattered Heart Print
Press the fabric flat before cutting. There is no stripe or one-way row to match, so you can rotary-cut strips, squares, or rectangles as your pattern directs without fussy-cutting each heart. Keep a consistent quarter-inch seam allowance, and do not worry if a heart is clipped at the edge of a piece — in a scattered print, partial motifs look natural and help pieces flow together at seams.
If you do want a whole heart featured, for example in the center of a block or on a pocket, take a moment to position your ruler or template over a complete motif before you cut. That is an occasional choice, not a requirement for every piece.
For color pairing, let red set the temperature of the project. Pair this fabric with white and cream for crisp contrast that makes the hearts stand out, with pink for a softer, tonal Valentine palette, and with sage or other soft greens from the Love You Always collection for balance. A touch of this red goes a long way, so if your quilt top feels too intense, increase the proportion of neutrals and let the hearts act as the spark rather than the whole background.
Care
Follow the care given for this fabric: machine wash cold and tumble dry low. Washing in cold water helps preserve the saturated red, and removing the finished project promptly from the dryer helps it stay smooth. Press with your usual cotton setting as you work, and store leftover yardage folded away from direct sunlight to keep the color fresh for the next project.
Used thoughtfully, a scattered heart print is not a novelty you have to work around — it is an easy, directional-free accent that brings warmth and a clear theme to quilts and sewing projects all year round.
Shop the Love You Always Hearts Red Cotton 43"/44" Fabric Per Yard at Linda's Electric Quilters.
