Sentimental Heart-Shaped Sweater Pillows

Sentimental because the sweater used belonged to my Grandma.

Heart-Shaped because of the obvious – the pillows are made in the shape of a heart.

Sweater because, of course, the pillows are made from a sweater.

And pillows because that’s what I do – I make pillows.

The word vintage could possibly be thrown in too, because my Grandma didn’t buy new clothes often. So it is safe to assume her sweater could have been old enough to qualify as ‘vintage’.

In the post prior to this one, I shared a tutorial on how to make a heart-shaped sachet.  Those sachets were made from the same sweater as these heart-shaped pillows, the sweater that belonged to my Grandma.

I made these pillows and the sachets as gifts for my Mom and my sister.

My sister and her family and my brother came in from out-of-state at Thanksgiving instead of Christmas this past year and we celebrated Christmas then.  I wanted to include these as part of the gifts at that time, but didn’t get them done in time.

It ended up being a fun gift to give my Mom on Christmas day.  I sent my sister’s pillows to her in a package of other stuff I had accumulated to mail to her.

My Grandma was a quilter.  Her quilting frame was always set up and usually had quilt in it that was in the process of being quilted.

To add a bit of detail and interest to the heart-shaped sweater pillows I hand-stitched a muslin heart to the center of the pillow, the stitches reminiscent of quilting.

Red top stitch thread added a pop of color.

Grandma’s stitches were nowhere near this large.  She made neat, even, tiny stitches when she quilted.

I also made my Mom and my sister each a pillow with 15 hearts, shown here behind the heart-shaped pillows. 14 hand stenciled hearts and one heart cut from the sweater scraps and stitched in place.

Why 15 hearts?  15 is a pretty special number to me.

My mom’s birthday is February 15.  I had my first-born in the wee hours of the morning, February 15.

4.5 years later my second daughter was born – on August 15.

Two years later,  pregnant with my 3rd daughter, I was informed I would need a c-section to deliver this baby.  I was due the latter part of November and we needed to set a date 2 weeks ahead of that date for surgery.  I requested the 15th and my Dr. graciously obliged.  The 15th didn’t fall on a day of the week he usually did scheduled surgeries but he was willing to change his schedule so I could have my baby on the date I chose.

So the number 15 had become my favorite number!

Not only does the heart-shaped pillow hold sentimental value to my Mom, sister and I, but the 15 hearts pillow has lots of meaning too.  I have a couple 15 hearts pillows available in my shop.  They feature red stenciled hearts and a genuine leather heart.  You can see them here.

A few people have asked about this darling throw blanket with the x’s and o’s.  The blanket is from Modern Burlap.

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!  If you would like to read some history about Valentine’s Day go here.  It’s really quite interesting!

Jill