Dot, Dot, Dot Valentine Pillow

I’m not a big fan of pink, but for some reason when I envisioned this pillow, it was pink and white. Seeing that I have two little girls, pink has managed to make it’s way into my home. It is my three year old’s favorite color. She was thrilled to see this pillow when she woke up this morning, so I guess I can live with a little more pink in my life until after Valentine’s Day is over.


This was the quickest pillow I have ever made. Here’s the how-to…


Materials and supplies needed:

• background fabric - ½ yd
• felt - 3 different colors
• pins
• thread
• 16″ square pillow form

Instructions:

First, cut your background fabric into three pieces: 17″x17″, 17″x14″, 17″x10″. The 17″x17″ piece will be the front, and the other two pieces will make up the envelope closure on the back. I used white fleece because I still have an enormous pile of it left over from my daughter’s Pillsbury Doughboy costume. It will be years before that stuff is gone.

Now on to the circles. I cut my circles using my good old Sizzix Big Kick die cutter. If you have one of those fancy-dancy new electronic cutters, you could probably use that. Or cut them all by hand. I used 35 circles on my pillow. You may need more or less depending on the size of your circles and how you lay them out.


Start to lay out the circles in four columns on the 17″x17″ piece of background fabric that will be the front of your pillow. I avoided putting two circles of the same shade of pink next to each other in the same column. Also, don't place any circles within 1" of the edges of the pillow.


Play around with the layout. Once you have everything where you want it, pin each circle to the background fabric.


Next, sew a straight line right through the center of each column of circles.


When you are done sewing all four columns, it will look like this…


At this point you may want to hem one of the 17″ sides of both the 17″x14″ and the 17″x10″ pieces of background fabric. I didn’t bother to hem mine because I used fleece.

With the circles facing up, lay your 17″x14″ piece of background fabric on top of the circles, right side down, along one side of the pillow (If you hemmed this piece, your hem should be the side that is closer to the middle of the pillow). Lay your 17″x10″ piece on top of that, right side down, along the other side of the pillow (If you hemmed this piece, your hem should be the side that is closer to the middle of the pillow). Pin all three layers together.


Sew all the way around the outside of the pillow using a ¼″ seam allowance. Clip your corners, and turn the pillow right side out.


And of course I added one of my homemade sewing labels (learn how to make them here).


I like the idea of the pillow, but the pink doesn’t really fit in with my decor. So, this pillow is making it’s way to my daughter’s bedroom, which will make her very, very happy. I think I’ll be sticking with red for any future Valentine’s Day decorations I make.

Linking up to these great parties…