DIY Vintage No-Sew Valentine Decorations

Do you LOVE super quick and easy DIY projects? If so then today’s DIY vintage no-sew Valentine decorations are right up your alley (and mine!). With a few materials you may have on hand, like fabric scraps and buttons, you can make these no-sew stuffed hearts in a jiffy.

Because I’m a farmhouse kind of girl, I chose what I consider to be farmhouse-y fabrics as you’ll see below.

How to make DIY vintage Valentine decorations

Materials for DIY Vintage Valentine Project

Materials for making DIY Vintage Valentine Decorations: fabric, buttons, ribbon, word tags, pinking shears

Note: This post contains affiliate links for [the same or similar] products used to complete this project. This is both for your convenience as well as to support my website, since I receive a small compensation whenever you click on a link and make any sort of purchase, for which I thank you. See my full disclosure here.

Materials

Short Video Tutorial

Make a Heart Template

Cardboard heart template 4" x 4"

One of the benefits of this project is that you can make your hearts any size you want, or you can use my 4″ x 4″ template above as a guide for yours.

I made it with a piece of scrap cardboard (rather than paper) to make tracing easier.

Trace the Template Onto Fabric

Tracing cardboard heart template onto blue and white ticking fabric

Trace your template onto your fabric: two hearts for each decoration.

Some suitable fabric choices:

  • Felt
  • Felted wool (sweater or scarf)
  • Twill or duck
  • Canvas
  • Drop cloth
  • Upholstery
  • Calico

Cut Hearts Out Your Hearts

Pair of blue and white vintage ticking fabric hearts

Cut your hearts out with pinking shears to avoid fraying as ordinary scissors would lead to a lot of fraying. Plus the zig zag edge is cute for Valentine’s Day.

Glue Ribbon to Hearts

Gluing ribbon onto the back of one fabric heart

Using hot glue, attach a piece of ribbon (about 5-6″ long) to the wrong side of one of your hearts.

Glue Heart Shapes Together

Gluing two fabric hearts together with hot gue

Glue your two hearts (wrong sides) together, leaving about a 2″ space for stuffing.

Stuff Hearts

Stuffing a fabric heart with poly fiber fill

Stuff your heart lightly with polyester fiber fill. I used a flag dowel to help reach the corners. You could also use the eraser end of a pencil.

Optional: Place a few drops of essential oil (maybe rose?) into the center of the fiber fill to lightly scent the room. Avoid placing it on the outer surface of the fiber fill where it may soak into the fabric.

An Alternative: Stuff your hearts with lavender buds to create heavenly scented little sachets to hang or tuck in a dresser drawer.

Attach Button & Tag

A completed vintage blue and white ticking stuffed heart with word tag: Je t'aime

Last steps: Print out some word tags on manila cardstock, cut them out, glue them onto the back of your buttons, then glue the combo tag/buttons onto your hearts.

About the word tags: I’ve create a page of word tags that you can download from the Member Library. You can get access to the Library by SUBSCRIBING to my weekly newsletter.

Alternatively, make your own word tags in Microsoft Publisher or on Canva. I selected an old-fashioned typewriter font and kept all the letters lower case.

I made similar word tags for these mini Christmas wreaths, which you can use to decorate ton’s of vintage goods and sell from a booth, on Etsy, or at a craft show.

Finished DIY Vintage Valentine Decorations

Set of three completed stuffed fabric heart decorations

Here are three completed hearts using vintage red and blue ticking and some blue denim. Do you have a favorite?

I think they are eminently saleable. Maybe in a set of three on Etsy for $15? From an antique booth for $6 each? What do you think?

Decorating With Your Stuffed Heart Ornaments

One of my favorite places to add a little holiday decoration is on and in my ironstone cupboard. All that white makes the perfect backdrop for colorful do-dads.

antique Quilted fabric heart hanging on a knob with antique ironstone in the background

Here’s a quilted example of a stuffed heart hanging on the knob of that cabinet.

antique quilted heart decoration hanging from an ironstone coffee pot next to jar of antique buttons

And inside the cupboard.

vintage red and white ticking fabric heart decoration with tag: "how do I love thee"

The vibrant red of this ticking certainly says “Valentine’s Day.”

vintage blue & white fabric ticking heart decoration with tag: "je t'aime"

But I enjoy the blue as well.

Conclusion

I’m not one to go too wild or crazy over Valentine’s Day, but I find a few touches here and there add a bit of cheer, especially whenever winter hangs on.

These cute little hearts with sweet saying like “je t’aime” and “love you more” do just the trick. Let me know if you try them out! Find 14+ Valentine projects & guides HERE.

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I’d love it if you’d pin this to your favorite Pinterest board:

DIY Vintage Valentine Decoration: Red & White ticking heart with word tag: "How do I love thee"

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9 Comments

  1. I make something similar, though a little more time consuming. I hand stitch around the edge for a very farmhouse look. Some I gather in a wire basket as is, some I embellish with a vintage button or ribbon bow and put a pin on the back to make a brooch. Don’t know why I never thought of a hanging loop!

    1. Glad I could pass on a good idea Diane. Yours sound darling with the finished edge. Me? I just don’t have the patience!

  2. Your project videos & directions are such a creative inspiration in my life. I have vintage handkerchiefs I will try using for this and add my own saved dried lavender. Wouldn’t these hearts in different textures & colors be pretty sweet hanging on my Alpine artificial tree for a couple of weeks in February. Thank you for the free sheet of phrases that I have now copied and will use to my “hearts” desire! Cheers.

  3. These are so cute–and easy. I love the smell of roses–and it is an uplifting scent–great this time of year for my seasonal affective disorder–winter blahs! A strip of lace or even bias binding across the heart would be simple to add, too. The only Valentine decor around here is so is a store-bot wreathe with wooden hearts–so far!

  4. Diana, these stuffed fabric hearts are SO adorable! Especially no sew and those messages attached! Such keepers. Now this is the way to gift a keepsake valentine!

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