Sew Your Own Valentine

Love is in the air. I can feel it, and I can smell the chocolate. Now, I know Valentine's Day isn't for everyone. But it's for me! Is it for you, too? Pulling out the pink and red decorations is the highlight of my February. Or, sometimes late January. I love DIYing the next few holidays that are coming up too. I'm excited for Easter, St. Paddy's Day, and even 4th of July. 

Valentine's Day is all about hearts, hearts, hearts. But, you don't necessarily need heart themed fabric to sew Valentine's projects. You'll see some heart fabrics were used in these projects, but anything red or pink will do just fine. Sift through your stash and scrap bin to give those red and pink fabrics some new life.

If you have little ones, they can help with decorating the house and making their Valentine's gifts too. I wanted to share some quick and easy things that you can sew for Valentine's Day, that shouldn't take a whole day. A few of these were made in previous years, and some were made this year.
Let's get our love on! 

Gift Card Holder

Sew up some cute gift card holders for teachers, neighbors, or friends. We know everyone could use a little extra love these days. Grab a $10 coffee, fast food, or bookstore gift card and slip one inside.

​If you have kids, stick a fro-yo, makeup store, online gaming, or other gift card inside. 

The gift card holder isn't my pattern. It's by Anne at OrangeBettie.com, and I found it here. Print the free sewing pattern and follow her directions on how to make your own. I skipped the snaps because I was lazy. But, add the snaps or a button or not. Make it your own. 

Stick a gift card inside. These are more fun than just a card.

The contrasting fabric inside adds some extra sparkle.

​Make a simple fabric basket as part of the gift. Fill it with candy, bath salts and a candle, toy cars, a small lego set, some tiny dolls, a plant, or something else. These really make your gift extra special when paired with something.

This fabric basket is super simple. It doesn't require interfacing, only two layers of fabric. If you'd like something a little more stable, grab my tutorial here. But, if you just want a quick basket, keep reading.

Easy Fabric Basket

The basket takes about 30 min from start to finish. Less if you're a speedy sewer. Gather your pink and red fabrics. 

• 2 Fat Quarters of non-directional fabric
• Ruler and air/water soluble marker 
• Thread and other sewing notions
• Sewing machine

Cut your fabric into one long rectangle, the length, and width you want. I folded a piece of fabric I had in half and trued up the sides. Don't overthink this, it's supposed to be quick and easy. Read: last minute gift ;)

For example, I cut mine about 16" long by 9" wide.

Fold fabric in half, right sides together.

Fold in half to make it squatty, then even up the edges with a rotary cutter, if needed. Cut your lining fabric the same size.

Mark squares at both ends of the folded edge, then cut.

Take your ruler and mark a square in the bottom corners. You can measure 1.5" by 1.5" or 2" by 2", etc. It's up to you. Play with different sizes if you're making a few of these. 

Sew down each side of the outer piece and lining.

Stop sewing once you reach the end. Backstitch.

With right sides facing, pin or clip the open sides together (not pictured). Sew, making sure to backstitch at the beginning and end. I used a 1/4" seam allowance. You can use 1/2" if you'd like. 

Pinch the corner together with the side edge. Sew.

Open out the corners with your fingertips. Then, pinch back together so the seam matches the center of the bottom. 
Pin or clip the edges together and sew, backstitching at the beginning and end. Do this for both corners.

Sew the corner to create a boxed corner.

Your corner should look like this. This is the side view, the top is still open and unsewn.

After it's sewn, it should look like the photo above. Do the same thing for the lining fabric. 

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Now take your lining and turn it right side out. You're going to stuff this inside the other fabric bucket. Pin or clip, matching seams. Make sure to leave a 2-3" gap for turning out. Sew.

You will have a lining and outer piece.

Turn the lining right side out and stuff inside the other piece.

Clip in place, leaving a gap for turning out.

Leave a 2-3" gap for turning. This one was too small, LOL.

Now it's time to bag out the basket. Start pulling the fabric through the gap you left, gently. It takes a little patience if you have a smaller hole. Be careful not to tug, or you'll rip open a seam or worse, your fabric! 

Pull the lining out through the open hole. This is called bagging out.

Once it's opened out, your fabric will look like a wrinkly hot mess express. This is fine. Poke out the corners with a chopstick. 

Poke out the corners with a chopstick or other blunt tool.

Stuff the lining inside the outer piece. I decided to use the pink fabric for my outer after completing my basket. To change it later on, I just have to flip the basket inside out. It's reversible! 

Stuff lining inside and give the basket a good press. I prefer to leave the lining poking out a bit.

Give it a nice good press. Topstitch around the top, closing your opening.

If you want to add something extra at this point, add a short loop for hanging. Grab a piece of ribbon or make one from a fabric scrap as I did. Pin in place, then sew. 

​Having a loop gives you more usage options for the fabric basket. 

Add a loop if you want.

I filled mine with fabric clips

Fill with little gifts and give them to teachers, a friend, or a child. I filled mine with fabric clips. Happy Valentines Day to me. Haha

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I usually use interfacing for these, but for a quick gift, they are fine without it. Of course, you can make a few of these to decorate your house too. Place them on the coffee table, console table, the kitchen counter, etc. Make them bigger or smaller. The sky is the limit!

Pennant Banner

I made these years ago and still put them up every year. Pennant banners are my favorite type of decoration. They are simple yet make a big statement. You can make yours with two layers of fabric sewn and turned out, or a single layer one. Nobody will see the back if it's displayed on a wall or cabinet. 

There are tons of free pennant banner templates online. Do a quick Pinterest search, and hundreds will come up. 

However, to make your own pennant, grab a ruler, some paper, and a pencil. 
My triangle one is 5" wide at the top and 8" long. We'll use those measurements for this example.
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1. Draw a 5" long line at the top of your paper. 
2. Mark the 2.5" spot.
3. Draw an 8" line straight down from the 2.5" spot. 
4. Connect the end of the long line to each end of the short line, forming a triangle. 
5. That will be your template. It's easy, right?
6. Make an odd number of them. For some reason, an odd amount looks better than an even amount of pennants. 

Use your own measurements to make it longer, wider, shorter, etc. Trace onto your fabric scraps. Sew a ribbon or bias binding on top to connect the pennants. Leave long tails at each end for tying onto something.

1. Draw a line at the top of your paper. Divide in half, mark that spot.

2. From that mark, measure the length you want, mark that point.

3. Connect the end points to form a triangle. This will be your template.

Ways to change up the look:

• Pink the edges for a fun retro look
• Leave the edges raw and let them fray a little bit. (They won't fray much because they are cut on the bias). 
• Sew different style fabrics together to make it reversible.
• Sew multiple sizes on top of each other to create a layered look
• Use embellishments, ribbons, tassels, etc.
• Make one for every holiday.

Below is another one I made out of felt. I added buttons and other embellishments to add some pizazz.

Table Runner

Valentine's Day table runner

I made this simple table runner many moons ago. It's an easy strip quilt design that was pieced together using fabric scraps I had on hand. The whole thing took around 2-3 hours from start to finish.
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• I sewed the long edges together.
• Used spray adhesive to temporarily attach the backing (ugly scrap fabric)
• Stitched in the ditch along the seam lines.
• Attached the binding by machine.
• Wah-la! Quick and painless table runner.

Measure the table you want to add some Valentine's Day decor to and make it for that size. Table runners are usually a little bit shorter than the length of the table. I don't  know the exact math, but Google probably does.

Easy peasy! It goes on my coffee or kitchen table, depending on my mood. 

Pillow Cover

Last but not least is a pillow cover. 
They are fun to make, and you can use different fabrics to cover your already existing throw pillows. Again, adding embellishments, embroidery, or other trims will make it extra fun. 

Below, I cut out letters from fabric and sewed them on. Nothing fancy, but it was quick and easy. This pillow cover is over a decade old, and the style is a bit dated, but I still use it. As I was taking photos, I realized how worn the letters have become and my stitching is sub par. Sometimes, it's fun to go back and look at old sewing projects. It's nice to know my skills have improved over the years.

If you've never made a pillow cover and don't know where to start, head to this blog post. I share some Halloween pillows I made and how to use an invisible zipper.

I hope I've inspired you to decorate for Valentine's Day and create some handmade love themed items. Remember, sewing for a holiday should be quick and painless. Take a shortcut here and there when you can. ​All in all, just have fun with it.

Happy St. Valentine's Day and Happy Sewing!
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XOXO,
Annette

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