How To: Button Love Ring Pillow

Another tutorial! Yay! I should be sensible and space these out a bit more but honestly the moment I get a project written up and ready to go I just can't wait to share it :)

Regular readers may recognise this project from this sneak peek post. It's a felt ring pillow, with a heart in the middle, a ribbon for attaching the rings and (most importantly) lots and lots of colourful buttons!
 

This ring pillow is super-easy to make, and you can choose felt and buttons in colours to match the colour scheme of your wedding.

You can also add an (optional) strip of felt to the bottom of the pillow, to help little hands carry it more easily:

To make this project you will need:

The templates provided at the bottom of this blog post
Two squares or sheets of felt (enough to cut out two ring pillow shapes and the strap if required)
A small piece of felt in pink or another colour that will contrast with the main felt colour (enough to cut out one heart shape)
Sewing thread to match both felt colours
Approx. 10 inches / 26cms narrow ribbon to match the heart
Lots of buttons in assorted sizes - choose an assortment of buttons in one colour, or a mix of colours. I bought my buttons from Paper Fish.
Toy stuffing to fill the pillow

(Please be kind and forgive my very hastily sketched how-to pictures!)

1. Use the templates provided to cut out one heart and two ring pillow squares. Also cut out the strap if required.

2. Pin the heart in the centre of one of the squares, and use matching thread to sew it in place with a line of running stitch around the edge. Then remove the pins.

 

3. Sew on lots of buttons around the heart, filling the space as evenly as possible but making sure you leave a small border around the edge of the square to make sewing the ring pillow together easier later.

You may find it helpful to place the heart template in the centre of the other square and arrange your buttons on this first, and then when you're happy with the scheme just transfer them one by one to sew them in place. Start with the buttons around the heart and work outwards.

Use sewing thread to match the felt square, and sew several stitches through each button to sew it on securely.

4. Cut a length of narrow ribbon (approx 10 inches / 26 cms long) and trim the ends at an angle to help prevent fraying. Sew the middle point of the ribbon to the centre of the heart using a few stitches and sewing thread to match.

 

The top of your ring pillow will now look something like this:

 

5. If you want to add a strap to the bottom of the pillow, pin the rectangular strap piece in the middle of the second (undecorated) square. Use matching thread to sew it in place with a line of backstitch at each end. Then remove the pins

If you prefer, you can sew a line of running stitch at each end, sewing back along the lines again to fill in the gaps creating two continuous lines of stitching.

6. Place the two felt squares on top of each other (right sides facing outwards) and pin them together. Use matching thread and blanket stitch to sew the edges together, leaving a gap for stuffing. You can use whip stitch if you prefer, but I think blanket stitch gives a neater finish.

Fill the pillow with fluffy toy stuffing, using a pencil to poke the stuffing into all the corners. Don't overfill the pillow - you want it to have a nice shape and still be slightly squishy.

When you've finished filling the pillow, sew up the hole with blanket stitch (or whip stitch) as before... and you're done!

All you need to do now is tie the rings in place on the big day with a nice bow :)

 

Here are the templates for this project - click on the image to view it, then click again to view at full size and print out. If you print at 100% your ring pillow will be the same size as mine (6 inches / 15.5cms square). Just change the % to make a smaller or larger pillow (at 100% the template sheet will print out as A4 size).


This tutorial is for non commercial use only: you can use it for as many ring pillows as you like for yourself or as gifts for friends but please don't make any for sale. Please feel free to borrow photos if you want to blog about this project, but remember to credit me and link back to the original source, and do not reproduce my entire tutorial on your site. Thanks!

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