How do I love this little heart-covered pillow? Let me count the ways . . . It's fun, fast, and easy to make. It's a great way to use up fabric and felt from your stash. And it makes a perfect gift for a loved one for Valentine's Day or any time of year.
As with many of my projects, color was the starting point for this design. I had several pink and orange cotton prints on hand that I wanted to use, and I also just happened to have wool-blend felt that coordinated wit them perfectly. I knew I wanted to make a pillow with a simple pieced front, and at first I thought I'd just applique some felt hearts on top. Luckily, I changed my mind and found a way to make the felt hearts flutter. The instructions for this project are minimal, so I'm going to let the illustrations do most of the talking.
Hearts Aflutter Pillow
(finished size: 8 1/2" x 14")
Materials:
- Pink print fabric: three 2 1/2" x 9" strips
- Two different pink and orange print fabrics: two 2 1/2" x 9" strips of each
- One 9 x 14 1/2" piece of print fabric for pillow back.
- Wool-blend felt in pink, dark peach, and light peach (I used Shocking Pink #0912, Terra Cotta Mist 2815, and Georgia Peach 2820 from National Nonwovens)
- Matching sewing thread
- Coordinating 6-strand embroidery floss
- Polyester fiberfill
Instructions:
Print the heart patterns below (the large heart should be 3" wide) and cut them from felt as follows:
- Pink felt: 3 large hearts, 2 medium hearts, 4 small hearts.
- Dark peach felt: 2 large hearts, 2 medium hearts, 4 small hearts.
- Light peach felt: 1 large heart, 2 medium hearts, 4 small hearts.
Next, arrange the fabric strips as shown in Diagram 1 and sew them together with 1/4" seam allowance. Press the seams open.
Now comes the fun part--adding the fluttering hearts. Fold each heart piece in half and press a sharp crease along the center line. (Test the iron on a scrap of felt first.) Arrange the felt hearts on the pieced pillow front as shown in Diagram 2, aligning the top and bottom points of the hearts with the seams. Be sure that the hearts are least 1" from the top and bottom fabric edges. Pin the hearts in place and use two strands of coordinating embroidery floss and backstitch to sew the hearts to the pillow along the creased center lines.
To finish the pillow, pin the front and back pieces together with rights sides facing. Sew along all edges with 1/4" seam, leaving an opening at the bottom for turning. Clip the corners, turn the pillow to the right side, and stuff it with fiberfill. Whipstitch the opening closed and your Hearts Aflutter Pillow is complete!
Here's my finished pillow. I love how the pinks, peaches, and oranges look together, but cut you can use any color combination you like--red and purple, pink and lavender, red and white--whatever palette puts you in a Valentine mood. Happy Valentine's Day--and happy stitching!