These adorable Valentine Pillows make the perfect Valentine’s Day craft for tweens, teens, and big kids! They’re super easy and fun to craft – make one or a dozen. Disclosure: this post contains affiliate links.
Remember those fleece tie pillows we used to make as kids in camp? We felt so cool with the final result, carrying them along with us until our projects were completed….
Today, no-sew tie pillows and blankets are a popular craft, so why not make it as a heart-shaped valentine pillow?
These are fantastic as mini gifts, and you can even use fabric paint to add some sweet messages when you’re done. I do recommend doing that last so you have more flexibility with your tying, but you can also do it after cutting the fringe. Just make sure to leave good margins and to let it dry completely before proceeding!
Valentine pillows are a fun project because it takes something that typically requires a very specific skill (sewing) and makes it accessible to everyone.
Tie projects open up a world of new possibilities for crafting – whether the absence of a sewing machine makes it hard to sew, or if it’s done in a group setting.
Of course, if you are able to sew, you can use fleece and PolyFill to make simple valentine’s pillows by sewing right sides together, leaving a small opening to turn right side out and fill, and hand stitching the opening.
Or have fun tying this classic summer camp craft!
These Valentine pillows are perfect for anyone to make for a BFF or loved one. They are a great party craft for tweens and teens. You can pre-cut the hearts to make it easier to do in a crowd, or let them make it from start to finish.
Fleece is from among the more affordable fabrics, and the fact that you don’t need to “seal” the ends – it doesn’t fray – makes it that much easier to make these adorable valentine pillows with them!
For these valentine pillows, you can either go with solids (which tend to be cheaper) or mix them with cute prints like this plaid to seriously upgrade your project.
Whether you are making these yourself, or crafting it with your tweens and teens, the main thing is to have fun with it!
If you’re doing this as a group, you’ll want to prep the basics in advance. Even if you’re making it yourself, cut when you have space and time to give it your attention, and then work on tying all your knots while relaxing with a favorite show, in the doctor’s waiting room, or wherever/whenever you want!
My final tip is to use a very good pair of fabric scissors when cutting!
It’s a lot of cutting and the scissors you use will make or break your cutting experience.
What’s Needed to Make Fleece Tie Valentine Pillows:
- 2 pieces of fleece per pillow – suggested size: 9×9 inches
- Poly fill stuffing
- Fabric scissors
- Pen or marker
- White paper to make your template
How to make fleece tie Valentine pillows:
1. Cut out a heart shaped template from the white paper. Make sure to make it
no bigger than your pieces of fleece. Use the template to cut out the heart shape from each piece of fleece.
2. Lay 2 fleece hearts on top one another and draw a smaller heart on the top
heart. I suggest making it about 1 ½ inches smaller. This smaller heart is
used as a guide to cut your strips.
3. Start from an edge and cut little strips, about ½ inch wide, into the fleece, making sure to stop at the smaller heart you drew. Continue until you have strips around the entire perimeter of your heart.
4. Now take 2 strips that are on top each other and tie them into a tight little
knot. Move on to the next 2 strips until you’ve gone almost all the way
around.
Leave a little opening so that you can fill your Valentine pillows. Stop with about a 2-inch opening.
5. Stuff some pillow stuffing into the pillow until you like how full it is. Then finish
tying the last few strips together.
Your valentine pillows are ready to share with a loved one!
Who will you be making these Valentine Pillows with or for? Comment below!
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Susan
Tuesday 24th of January 2023
I'm guessing from the comments below that they are not difficult to tie? The little strips look so tiny and there are so many of them to knot. 3rd grade students could do this? I'm going to give it a try. Thank you!
Menucha @ Moms & Crafters
Wednesday 25th of January 2023
Hi, I'd definitely do a test in advance to double check the ideal length to cut the fringe - you may want to go a bit longer if you feel it's challenging. But 3rd graders should be able to do this. Sometimes smaller fingers have an easier time getting in there to knot it.
Kristi A Woodworth
Monday 24th of January 2022
Is there a printable heart template?
Menucha @ Moms & Crafters
Tuesday 25th of January 2022
HI Kristi, I don't have one for this craft but you can use the template from this one: https://www.momsandcrafters.com/heart-string-art-template/
Cheryl
Sunday 16th of January 2022
I made this pillow, really hard to tie those tiny little strips into a knot gonna try again, and make the slices thinner and longer and the heart needs to be bigger too. Cute idea though.
Sheri
Friday 14th of August 2020
Granny Camp with four of my grannykids. Making these tomorrow! Had fleece already in my stash! Thanks for sharing such a cute and easy craft!
Menucha @ Moms & Crafters
Sunday 16th of August 2020
Yay! Hope they love it!
Beccie
Wednesday 8th of July 2020
This looks so fun that I'm going to do it with my granddaughter. However, when I was practicing, the 1 1/2 inch strips were hard to tie into a square knot (right over left, left over right), and the pictures you posted don't really look like square knots. Did you just tie them once? Do they stay tied if you do that? Thanks!
Menucha @ Moms & Crafters
Monday 13th of July 2020
Hi Beccie, yes, you do need to do square knots. You can cut it a little longer - fleece has stretch, so you can pull to help you knot.