Valentine Hearts Pillow

 

Hearts and pillows seem to be a theme for me. Last week I posted the pattern for the Upcycle Peekaboo Heart Pillow and today I have another heart themed pillow (and this won't be the last one!)  This base of this pillow is the basic Envelope Pillow Pattern in a neutral cotton fabric, with ragged edge hearts on the front panel. It's so easy to make and looks so fancy!

First, you MUST wash the base cotton fabric BEFORE cutting it or sewing the hearts on it.  You will also wash it after you sew the hearts on in order to create the ragged effect, but you don't want to find out after the pillow is complete that the cotton shrinks and your pillow form doesn't fit. Only after you wash the fabric proceed to cut it for the size pillow you want.  You can see the various sizes on the Envelope Pillow Pattern.  Mark the front panel of the pillow with pins so you know where to place the hearts. (The Envelope Pillow pattern uses a single piece of fabric for the pillow, so you need to figure out exactly where the front of the pillow is.)  You can do that in the third picture on the tutorial when you fold the fabric to make a square.  After finding the front panel portion, be careful as you sew the hearts not to sew on the "back" of the pillow.  

Now for the fun part - cutting each heart individually.  I did this without a pattern, but unless you are looking for uniform size hearts, you can't really make a mistake.  Cut a small square of your fabric, fold it in half, right sides facing with the raw edges to the right and the fold between your thumb and forefinger in your left hand.  Starting at the bottom left corner (at the fold), cut diagonally up and to the right.  Then curve your scissors around to the left, turning the fabric in your hand.  Finish the curve with another diagonal downward (which will be the center of the heart).  Here's a little video of the technique:

Again, it doesn't matter what size hearts you cut.  Some of mine were thin (steeper diagonals) and some were fat hearts.  No matter how many hearts you decide to place on the pillow, be sure to take the time to arrange them and pin them on so you can see how they fit.

Now you're ready to sew. I used a contrasting brown thread so I could get the primitive look.  You are sewing these onto the right side of the pillow fabric, with the heart fabrics also right side up.  Leave a bit of a seam allowance so you have some fabric to "rag".  And take your time making those curves with the sewing machine, turning the fabric frequently.  I know it is possible to position the hearts using a stabilizer, but it's not easy to cut out hearts from stabilizer and I ended up sewing them anyway.

This is what it looked like about halfway through sewing the hearts.

Once the hearts are sewn on, make some small perpendicular cuts around the hearts in the seam allowances, being very careful not to cut the seam.  This will help start the fraying process.  Wash the pillow and run your fingers over the raw edges of the hearts to help fray the fabric.  Don't worry if it doesn't immediately fray - it will over time and washes.

Finish the back of the pillow following the directions on the Envelope Pillow Pattern.  Insert your pillow form and enjoy your perfect handmade one-of-a-kind Valentine's pillow.

I purposely chose to fill the pillow form with hearts, but if you want a look that is a little less cluttered, here is another I recently made:

cindy