I know, I know, I’m a little late for Valentine’s Day this year, but we’re just getting this blog up and running so I figured I’d post it late and then hopefully it can help some people out next year!

I had a lot of fun putting together this little Vday pillow.  If you’d like to make one of your own, here’s what  you’ll need-

1 12×16 pillow insert (I use the same one all year round, just switch to a seasonal cover), 1 fat quarter of pink fabric for roses in heart, 1/3 yard of 44″ wide brown fabric (I used linen), a 12″x12″ piece of white fabric (I used linen again), 24″ of lace, 30 beads for flower centers, about 10″ of ribbon, 2 buttons, needle, thread, sewing machine

First we’ll cut everything to size.  Here’s what you need

Pillow Front: 2 pieces of white fabric one 12″x7″, the other 12″x3 1/2″ , 1 piece of brown fabric 12″x6″, 2 pieces of lace each 12″ long, 10 rosettes made from your fat quarter- you can cut 10 strips each 18″x10″ and then follow our rosette tutorial to make them.

Pillow Back: 2 pieces of brown fabric, one 12″x13″, the other 10″ x 12″, two 4″ pieces of ribbon

 First sew your three front pieces of fabric together, lining up the 12″ sides with the brown in the center.  Iron your pillow front.  Sew lace on top of each of your seams- just pin in place and sew right on top of it with a matching thread (the seam blends right in with the intricate lace design)

Print out our heart pillow pattern, cut out the heart and trace it with a removable marking pen right where you want it on your pillow front.

Take your 10 rosettes and arrange them in the heart you traced.  They don’t have to fit perfectly yet, just generally fill in your heart.

Sew your hearts into place.  To start, just tack them into place by sewing their centers, but not around the outside petals.  Now is the time to add 3 beads to the center of each flower to give them a little shine.

This is what the back of your piece will look like when you’ve got all 10 flower tacked into place.  You’ll understand the importance of this after reading the next step!

Now that your roses are in place, you can smoosh them into just the spot you want them.  Go around with a needle and thread (by hand!) and sew down the outside petals of each rose.  Make sure there is no brown showing between the roses.

When you’re done, the back of your piece will look like this.  See how there are a lot more stitches now?

Now that your front is complete, we’ll move to the back.  Take your two brown pieces of fabric over to your ironing board.  One each piece, take a 12″ side of the fabric and fold it in about 1/2″.  Iron that down, and then fold it in again but this time about 1″.  Then go and sew each piece down to create a nice wide hem.

Now that we’ve got some nice hems of the opening of the pillow back, we’re going to sew on our ribbon.  I used this ribbon instead of making button holes, but if you’re rather you can just go traditional.  If not, go ahead and fold your 4″ piece of ribbon in half and tie a knot.  Take the longer back piece and fold it in half to find the middle.  Measure 1 1/2″ in from the center, unfold your fabric and pin once piece of ribbon right above the hem you just sewed.  Repeat with the other ribbon, but this time measure 1 1/2 ” up from the center instead of down (so when you unfold your piece the ribbon pieces are 3″ apart)

Sew the ribbons in place

To complete your pillow, lay your pillow front (right side facing up) on a flat surface, top it with the longer side of your pillow back (the one with the ribbons) this one will be right side facing down

Top that with the shorter back piece, right side facing down.  Pin in place and sew all along the outside of your pillow.  If you are using a fabric that frays easily (like I did with the linen!)  be sure to do a zigzag stitch with your machine.  That will help the edges no to fray.

When you are finished, trim all four corners of your pillow so they’ll make a nice point.  Turn your piece and iron it flat.

Alright!  Last step!  Put your pillow form into the pillow case.  With your removable marking pen, mark where the ribbon loop ends.  Remove the form (I know, so disappointing- right when you thought you were done!) and sew your two buttons right on the marks you just made.  Remove your marks and put your pillow form back in there! (for keeps this time) You’re done!

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Jessica George