Patchwork Fabric Heart Pillow
by Designer Audrey Pettit
Heart Pillow Supplies
StitchnSew Sew-In Fleece
SpraynBond Pattern and Stencil Adhesive
Oliso Mini Project Iron
Tim Holtz Eclectic Elements Fabric: Wallflower, Provisions
Other: Wool Felt, Lace, Seam Binding, Millinery, Polyfill Fiber Stuffing, quilting ruler, rotary cutter
6″ Heart Pattern downloaded from the internet
If you love hearts and fabric and have lots of fabric scraps to use, then this is the project for you! This sweet vintage-inspired heart pillow is made from a random assortment of fabric scraps and can be made in any size that you wish. The technique is easy and fun, and simple enough for even beginning sewers. Let’s take a closer look.
To begin, gather a random selection of small fabric scraps. Cut the scraps into squares or rectangles, and iron the pieces flat. Don’t worry too much about how straight the edges are at this point.
Cut a square of StitchnSew Sew-In Fleece that is about 6.5″ square. Again, you don’t have to be really precise with straight edges. Place a fabric square in the middle of the fleece, right side up. Lay another piece of fabric, right side down, onto one edge of the fabric underneath. Straight stitch down the edge using a 1/8-1/4″ seam allowance.
Fold the stitched fabric out so that the right sides are facing, and press them flat with the iron. Lay another square, right side down, onto the next edge, and sew a straight stitch along that edge. Continue to add fabric pieces across both sides of that middle block until the width of the fleece is covered. Gather another row of fabric pieces, and stitch them together into a long strip. You can use a quilters ruler and rotary cutter to cut the edges even once they are sewn together.
Lay the new strip, right side down, onto either the top or bottom edge of the first strip, and sew a straight stitch along the edge. Fold the fabric back right side out, and iron flat. Continue to sew and add strips of fabric to the entire piece of fleece. Here you can see that I’ve sewn three strips of blocks to the fleece, and have laid out the top strip, ready to be stitched.
Download and print a 6″ heart pattern from the internet. Cut the heart out with scissors. Spray one side of the pattern with SpraynBond Pattern & Stencil adhesive, and set it aside to dry for about a minute.
Place the pattern onto the pieced fleece, and trim around the heart. Peel off the pattern, and use it to cut a second heart from wool felt for the backing of the pillow. The nice thing about the pattern spray is that you can use it multiple times without re-spraying.
Lay a band of lace across the front of the heart. Lay the wool felt heart on top of the patchwork heart, and pin the pieces together. Sew around the edge of the heart using a 1/4″ seam allowance, leaving about a 3″ opening on one side to turn the heart right side out. Snip into the seam allowance around the curved edges, being careful not to cut into the seam. Then turn the heart right side out, stuff it full, and stitch the opening closed.
Gather some millinery trimming together, and tie them to the lace using seam binding ribbon.
It’s the perfect gift for Mother’s Day!
