I love bandanas. They can be used for so many different things; tie them around your head for a trendy boho look, sew them together to make a lovely play tent for the kids or you can make this easy no sew bandana heart pillow.
It’s the perfect size for a scatter cushion or you can use cuddle up with in a home made hammock. I was originally going to use a gorgeous quilting fabric to make the no-sew heart, but I used it all to make the primitive bed spring hearts. So a bandana was my next choice, and I’m glad. I love the way the pillow looks. And apparently so does Merlin ;-)
Right, before we get to the tutorial, be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram. And don’t forget to subscribe so you’ll never miss a post!
How to Make a No-Sew Bandana Heart
This one is really easy, I promise. Just grab two bandanas and your pinking shears.
Place the bandanas on top of each other wrong side facing inwards, fold the bandanas in half, and cut out a half heart shape.
Fold the hearts open keeping the two bandana hearts on top of each other. Use pinking shears to cut a fringe or strips around the heart-shaped bandanas.
The fringe pieces should be at least 6.5 cm long and 2.5 cm wide (2.5″ x 1″). Anything shorter than 6.5 cm long will be difficult to weave and if the fringe is too long, your pillow will be a bit small.
Fold the fringe over and make a small slit on the fold. You’ll use the slit to “weave” the edges of the pillow, so the smaller the better.
Turn the fringe strips up and squish them together ………
……and then pull them down, through the slit.
Tug tightly and repeat.
(Post update: I had so many beautiful comments on the bandana heart – thank you, but it seems the pics on how to weave the fringe aren’t descriptive enough so here’s a video that might help.)
Continue weaving the fringe and periodically flip your heart over to make sure you haven’t missed any lonely little fringe pieces – you’ll end up with a wonky no-sew pillow heart if you do :D Leave the last five fringe pieces and stuff the heart firmly. Finish off the pillow by weaving the last few pieces. It’s that easy.
Time to find your favorite snuggle cat and cuddle up with your bandana heart pillow. Love our Merlin to bits and he’s so spoilt.
When life is hard, #snuggle with a #purrbaby
A no sew pillow makes the perfect Valentine’s gift that can be used throughout the year ;-)
If you like the idea of the bandana heart don’t forget to pin it for later so you can make your own.
Sharing is caring
I’d love to know what you think of the pillow. If you’d like to make one and don’t want to go to all that trouble of finding the materials, I’ve got you covered ;-) Disclosure: If you click on the links below, we may receive a commission from Amazon. But don’t worry it won’t come out of your pocket, and it helps us feed our fur babies ;-)
And as always, hope you have a beautiful, love filled week. Thank you for popping in for a visit.
60 comments
This is such a cute, quick, easy project. I am going to give it a try. I just can’t get enough of the photos of Merlin!!! He is so sweet! He doesn’t appear to be spoiled….too much!!! lol
:D Our Merlin is one of the biggest cuddlers in our family of fur babies. He kinda sneaked into the family a few years back when our puppy got cat flu. Merlin would sneak into Zia’s cage at the vet and cuddle up to her. So we just had to bring him home with us. He deserves to be spoilt every day :D
Very, very cute. But I couldn’t figure it out from the pics, and I couldn’t get the video to pull up.
:( I really want to do this project.
Rebekah
Sorry about that Rebekah. Can you try again?
Like your project. I followed the instructions and made one with felt. Can you share if the cut/edge of Bandana will fray from cutting? Thank you.
Bandanas do fray after a while yes. You can put no fray on the cuts to stop or slow it down and hand washing the pillows help too.
This is my type of craft related to fabric -no sew. I have a special relationship with my sewing machine… let’s say love-hate. But I can do this for sure! The cat seems to love it too
Oh I know what you mean Pili. When it works it’s lovely, but man when that machine’s settings go all wobbly I want to cry.
This is such a great idea!!! I have so many bandanas, and I have no idea what to do with them, so thanks for sharing this clever and cute idea at the Valentine’s Link Party!!!
Thank you for a lovely party T’onna, I’m really enjoying all the wonderful Valentine’s creations
Its looks awesome but it looks to me like the edges are sewn
Thank you anon and I promise they haven’t been sewn. I think using the pinking shears might create that impression but it also stops the edges from unravelling. Not sure if that’s the right word though
The bandanas have a hem already on them . If that’s what you are looking at.
This is so cute and how cool that it is no sew, I’m always so lazy to get that sewing machine out! Love your cat!
Me too Katrin ;-) it seems like such a hassle somethings, especially when it’s stuck in a cupboard because you don’t have the space for it your craft room
This is such a cute idea! Great to have another use for bandanas!
Thank you so much Laurie. We have so many bandanas lying around and it’s fun to do something different with them.
Simply Love It!
Thank you Daisy <3
Cute bandana heart. I have always loved heart crafts. Love that blue, and how you did the fringe.
Yay, thank you Linda. They’re easy and almost therapeutic to make
I can’t get the video to load and would love to try it, but am coming up shy on how the slit works for weaving. Does the slit go in both pieces and then you roll both pics to weave through it?
Hi, yes the slit is in both pieces and you scrunch/roll both pieces together, push them through the slit and pull tight. It’s kinda like threading a needle, the slit is the eye of the needle and the longer bits of the bandana are the thread. Hope that makes sense? Let me know if you need more and I’ll try my best to explain it better.
Michelle this is such a cute idea. I used this technique to make a pillow from an old fleece scarf. I love that there is no sewing involved. Easy and pretty.
Thank you Mary. It really is so easy once you get the hang of it. Thanks for the visit and hope you had a lovely Easter.
Why can’t measurements be in inches and not cm?
Hi Sandi, valid point. We use the metric system in South Africa so it’s second nature to measure everything in mm or cm. I believe the only countries in the world who haven’t converted to the metric system are the States and Liberia. To make things easier I must remember to add a link to convert inches to cm in my posts.
When I hit video it doesn’t upload to my phone. So I tried it on Google and it came up but its not showing how to make a loop on the dip of the heart. I get how to make the cut and Loop it in but I’m having trouble with the dip.
Hi V, glad the video worked but really sorry you’re still having a problem. I sent you a personal email to try and explain. Let me know if it helps.
I’m still having trouble with the dip on the heart when it comes to tieing it. I’m not getting it, I tryed to load your video but it not working.
Hi, can you send me the error message. It’s the first time I’ve uploaded a video so I may have done something silly.
OMG! I love it! I have so many bandannas and with your wonderful tutorial, now I will have many lovely bandanna pillows. Thank you!!
Hi Brenda, thank you so much for your lovely comment. Really appreciate it and would love to see your finished pillow.
Must try!
Where can I get the pattern for the lovely afghan the pillow is sitting on?
Hi Edith, I wish I could help with the pattern but I found the gorgeous afghan at a little antique shop called “Borrowed and Blue @ Cullinan Junction” . If I remember correctly, the afghan belonged to the owner’s gran, maybe she can help with the pattern.
Where do you cut the slit? When you say weave the Fringe ,I’m totally lost.
Oh wow. Great idea. Can you do this with a regular square shape as well? I guess any shape would work? I love it and am going to make some this weekend with my daughters!
I will teach this to others in my art company awesome Idea
Great idea! Love the “weave” rather than tying knots. Seems to be much neater finish.
Thanks for the lovely comment Karyn. Those knots do tend to hurt when you’re cuddling.
struggling with the notion of the slit and little sausage thing, welcome to my brain.
Yeah, I’m not quite getting that part either. Is the slit through both sides of fringe? Then threading (rolled up tube?) both ends through the slit?
Me too, I don’t get it. :-(
Hi Ali, sorry about that. I’ll try update the post as soon as I get a chance. Maybe I need to take better photos.
Me too. Maybe if you take a picture of the fringe after the slit is cut but before the weaving starts so we can see the orientation of the slit? I think I can see it but not sure how the 2 fringe pieces go through it.
I really need to take better pics :-( I’ve got some time this weekend and will definitely update the post. Thank you for the comment.
Hi, I was also confused by the directions, so as usual I needed an answer now and I started to Google bandana pillows. I got all kinds of hits but none for the no knot kind. I plugged in “no knot bandana pillow” and I found a tutorial that is clear on how to dothe no sew fringe. This is for a blanket but it can be translated into the pillow idea. https://www.sandicrafts.com/no-sew-blanket-knot-tying/ <– I can never get the link to post correctly so just copy and paste it to your browser…good luck :)
Oh you beautiful woman, thank you for sharing the link. You are a super star :-)
Well, that explains the poor quality of my weave. I wish I had seen this sooner!!! I highly suggest you see this link first. Pulling to hard leads to lose weaves that come undone when stuffing the pillow. Next time I will be a bit gentler. Otherwise, I love this idea!! Thank you!!!!
must have a go at this as I am clumsy and can’t sew and struggle following instructions, I may even be able to do this.
Oh, I freaking adore this. Well, I’m REALLY into anything handmade and have a passion for DIY. I’m adding this to my weekend to-do list (planning to do a pink and white for my kiddo’s bedroom). :)
Wow Kelly, please share some photos when you’re done. I’d love to see it.
Cute! I’ve got a Craft Gossip post scheduled for this morning that features your tutorial: https://sewing.craftgossip.com/?p=86511 –Anne
Thank you sooooo much Anne
I’m not the craftiest person in the world (I would safely say I am craft challenged, but I keep trying). I love this and I’m happy to see a way to use my old bandanas!
Hey Dee, so glad you liked it. Let me know how the pillow turns out.