I really loved photos from a tutorial of felt with hand-embroidery on the net. They didn't even need to worry about fraying edges. But I wanted to sew cottons, since that's my love, and use my machine embroidery blanket stitch. So for the inner heart shape (which is 1/8th inch larger than the opening) I traced onto fusible paper, pressed that onto the back of the main fabric. Then most of it cut out, with 1/8th inch of the fusible left around that inner edge to press onto accent fabric for inner heart. Fused and machine embroidered, those edges are as fray-proof as the felt ones were. But just 1/8th inch of fusible doesn't make the heart stiff.
Here's a close-up, I hope, of the buttons on the set of three that are a birthday gift for ddil. These are from my maternal grandmother's stash, which she used at the house where ddil is living now, while she took care of me as a child. Could be as young as 55 years old, say.
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