With Valentine’s Day just a few days away I’m preparing a few special surprises for my sweet littles. We have always traded little love notes and cards between one another to mark the occasion, so this year I wanted to give my little guy a place to collect his.
I bought these adorable felt envelope chair-backers from Pottery Barn a few years ago for my girls.
But instead of purchasing another one for B, I decided to try a little DIY of my own. So I picked up some red felt at the local fabric store and cut two sheets about 9″ x 13″ to match the original chair-backer size.
I then folded just one sheet in half and drew a line from the top corner to a little lower than the centre point with chalk.
I cut along the chalk line with pinking shears and that created the top and bottom sections for the front of the envelope.
I cut a triangle shaped liner for the inside of the envelope flap, as well as the inside of the pocket. I just used some scrap fabric I had on hand in a soft blue gingham. I then used fabric glue to adhere them in place. I also glued the outside edges of the envelope frame together.
I then glued along the top edge of the triangular flap piece and left all glued pieces to dry overnight.
Once the glue was dry, I sewed a decorative zig-zag stitch around the two sides and bottom edge of the envelope, as well as along the edge of the envelope flap. I then cut a heart shape to glue over the tip of the flap.
I cut two straight strips with pinking shears to make the backpack-like straps for the back of the envelope. I folded it lengthwise and cut a small slit at the bottom to fit my button through. (I glued the heart and the top straps in place and let dry overnight.)
I then sewed two contrasting buttons in place on the back of the envelope.
The finishing touch was a smaller red heart to lay over the white one. I stitched this in place by hand making a cross stitch pattern.
Although not as detailed as the Pottery Barn version (and definitely not as perfect), this DIY envelope chair-backer is a cute compliment to the originals. Now all three littles will have a sweet spot to collect their Valentines.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
