Valentine's Pillow Sham

I feel like the internet is full of fun Valentine's projects right now. I've been thinking for a while what kind of project to make, whether clothes or decor, and settled on this fun pillow!

We have several pillows in our living room that are pretty old and ratty. Zane and I have particularly hated this one with birds and vines since we moved into our new house... two years ago. It was clearly the one I chose to cover. 

Sorry the picture is sideways. I tried to fix it, but blogger's not helpful in that way. 

1. I measured the pillow and decided I needed a 17.5'' square, including the inseam. 

2. I laid out Zane's ironed shirt (which he gave to me for crafting a long time ago), and cut out a 17.5'' square right in the middle of the chest. I kept the buttons buttoned. 

3. The square from the back of the shirt had that little dart thing that button up shirts have, so I ironed it down and re-cut it to be the right size.

4. I embellished the front of the pillow, which was the back piece of the shirt. I cut out three hearts from an old red t-shirt scrap, leftover from a botched Rufio clothing project. 

5. I used iron-on adhesive strips to attach the three hearts in the way I liked them. 

6. I top-stitched them into place. I was only going to do one stitch, but the edges of the hearts were still flapping after the inner stitch, so I went around again closer to the edges. I ironed them again. 

7. I trimmed the edges of the hearts to be more rounded. 

8. I lined up my two square pieces, right sides inward, and pinned around the edges. 

9. I sewed around the entire square. 

10. I opened the buttons and flipped the pillowcase around. 

11. I ironed it again. 

12. I stuffed my ugly pillow into it and buttoned it up!

Ta-da!!

I might just make one for every seasonal holiday. They're easy and fun! I did this whole project in about an hour. Go and do likewise!!