Heart Pillow Tutorial

Do you remember this heart pillow Lilly and I made DH for Valentine's?  Here's the tutorial I promised.

2013 Valentine's Day Present to DH

Pillows are so much fun to make.  Especially pillows that I get to design the pattern.  That way there isn't a wrong or right way!  Okay, I know, I sew like I cook.  A little bit of this and a smidgen of that.

To make this heart pillow you will need a few things:

• Scissors
• Thread
• Sewing Machine (although this could be sewn by hand)
  
• Sewing Needle
• Fabric
• Stuffing
• Paper
• Ribbon
  

Step 1:

Fold a large piece of paper or newspaper in half and draw half a heart.  I used a plate to make the top of the heart nice and round.  Then cut out your heart.  The paper heart is about 22" x 22".

Step 2:

Take two pieces of fabric or fold your fabric in half so that the entire heart fits.  The right sides (pretty side) of the fabric will be together sandwiched inside.  Pin your heart to the fabric.

Step 3:

To make the smaller hearts, take an 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper and fold it in half so the paper is now 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (top to bottom fold) then fold the paper again (left to right).  Now you have a 2 3/4" x 2 1/2" square.

Draw half a heart on the folded side of the paper like you did for the big heart.  Cut out your heart and you will end up with two identical hearts.

Step 4:

Fold your fabric with the right sides together and pin in place your two smaller hearts.  You should look something like this.  Cut out your smaller hearts.

Step 5:

Feed the end of one side of the ribbon up through the middle and out at the top center of the heart.  Your heart will look like this: wrong side/pretty side/ribbon/pretty side/wrong side close to the table.

Lilly, my little helper in all things writing and crafting

Step 6:

Can you see the bump in the center of the heart?  That's the ribbon all tucked up in there.  If you're afraid you might accidentally sew the ribbon, you can trail it out through the opening between my fingers.

Step 7:

Stitch all the way around the heart leaving an opening on the side for turning.  Back stitch at the beginning and ending of the opening so the stitching doesn't unravel when you turn the heart right side out.  The seam allowance is 1/2" but because this fabric easily frays, I sewed a second seam at a 1/4".

Step 8:

Turn the heart right side out.

Step 9:

Repeat steps 5 through 8 for the second small heart.  Notice that the ribbon is not tucked up inside the heart this time but is sticking out through the opening of the stitches.

 

Step 10:

Now it's time to work on the big heart.  You've already pinned the pattern to the fabric.  Go ahead and cut it out.  With these hearts, I didn't add any additional width for seam allowance.  Only because it didn't matter much if a half inch was lost all the way around.

Step 11:

Remember back in Steps 5 and 6 where we tucked the ribbon up inside the small heart?  Well, we are going to do that again.  Only this time, figure out how you want your two small hearts to lie and fold your ribbon.

Lilly, the Sweetest Supervisor

Step 12:

 Stitch your big heart like you did the smaller hearts.  Here is a better picture of the double stitching to prevent unraveling with this fabric.  If you're working with something other than an upholstery type or tweed, you might not have to do this.

You can see the opening on the side and the back stitching on both the straight and zigzag stitches.

The opening is about 5 inches for the ease of turning and getting my hand up inside to work all the curves.

Step 13:

Turn the big heart right side out.

Step 14:

Stuff your three hearts.  In this case, I had left over stuffing from another project and wanted to use it up since it was making a mess in my room.  Leftover scraps of fabric are great to stuff pillows or toys.  It's also a good way to recycle and use up those scraps that are too small but you just can't get rid of.  I hear ya!

Step 15:

Hand stitch the openings closed.

Hey! That was a lot easier than I imagined getting my thoughts down in an (hopefully) understandable manner.  This is a super quick and easy project.  It could certainly be sewn by hand and a cool way to teach yourself or a new sewer and end up with something you will use.

Please share your completed projects.  I'd like to post them and allow people to enjoy your creation.  If you have a website or posted elsewhere, please let me know and I'll be sure to link with you.

P.S., If you have a tutorial you'd like to share, please write me at substanceofliving@gmail(dot)com.

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