DIY Pottery Barn Valentine's Felt Envelopes Tutorial

Okay, so I know that Valentine's Day was a couple of weeks ago and I apologize for the tardiness of this post.  I didn't finish these envelopes until the night before at around 9:00 pm and by then it was already too late for someone else to go and make one for Valentines this year anyway.  We've had the yucks at our house for a little while now (first it was Princess #3, then me, then Princess #2), so posting wasn't at the  top of my priorities list.  But now I am posting and you'll have a cute little tutorial to come back to next year if you decide you want to make one.

Enough with the blabbing.  You don't even know what I'm talking about yet.  Do you?  While looking through Pinterest, I came upon these cute Felt Envelopes.  Imagine my dismay when I clicked on the link and it wasn't actually a tutorial.  The person had bought them at Pottery Barn.  They were super cute, so I decided that I could make them myself and share that with you.  So, here you go.

Steps 1 & 2 - First I bought my felt.  I think I bought 1/2 yard of white and a little red (for the heart).  Next I measured my kitchen chairs to be an idea of how big I wanted my envelopes to be.  I decided on 13 x 17 1/2 inches.  I cut two rectangles with my pinking shears to my measurements (you can use a rotary cutter, but I was going for the more scalloped look like in the original).

The first one I made, I cut out my 2 rectangles with my rotary cutter, then pinned them together and cut them with my pinking shears.  On the other two, I found this wasn't necessary and just cut each rectangle with the shears.

Step 3 - Measure the center of your envelope (only the front piece).  You need to make a diagonal line from the center to each of the top corners and cut out the triangle (thus creating the front of your envelope).

On the first one, I forgot to cut out my triangle before I started weaving my ribbon.  Oops!  Pretend like there isn't any ribbon here.

Step 4 - I really liked the red lining on the envelope, so this is the next step (you can always skip this step for a plainer, simpler envelope).  I was just going to sew it with red thread, then realized that it wouldn't have the bold effect that I wanted (you would hardly be able to see it).  Fortunately I had some thin red ribbon the same color as my red felt (I had bought them together with extra red felt for a separate project that I didn't end up doing).  So, I cut small slits (wide enough for the ribbon) about 1/2 an inch in from the edge and from each other all around the front piece of the envelope.  Next you will  thread your ribbon around the envelope to create the cute envelope look (in my other envelopes I actually used yarn because the ribbon was a little too thick for my liking).

I used a quilters marker to mark my spots and then just snipped (sorry for the blurriness, my camera is getting old, but I'm getting a new one)

This is how your front piece will look when weaving is complete

Step 5 - Sew your front piece to the back piece of your envelope on the outside of your ribbon/yarn (I made sure that I sewed the ends of my ribbon at the same to keep them from coming out of the envelope).  Remember that you are only sewing three sides, NOT the top.

Pretend the flap isn't on (I forgot to take pictures of the last few steps as I was doing them, so I had to take them at the end)

Step 6 - Now we need to make the flap for the envelope.  I decided that I wanted it to hang about 2/3s of the way down my envelope (you want it past the middle so that it "closes" all the way).  I made a triangle with my pinking shears that was a little wider than my envelope (remember it was approx. 17 in at this point) and about 8 or 9 inches long at the tip.  You will then create the lining for it like in Step 4.

The flap (pretend there isn't a lopsided heart)

Step 7 - After completing the "weaving" on the flap, you need to attach it to the actual envelope.  Just lay it right-side up on the front side of the evelope and sew the two tops together (you will actually be sewing it to the backside of the envelope since you cut out a triangle from the top part).

Step 8 - Finishing touches.  Cut a heart from the coordinating felt (in my case red) and sew it to the flap of your envelope.  Voila.  You're done.  I didn't actually make the straps to attach it to the chair because I ran out of time, so I'll do that next year.  However, if you can't figure that out on your own, I'd suggest cutting two strips from your coordinating felt and either sewing or hot-gluing them to the back of your envelope.  I think I will add magnets to the ends of mine to hold them togather, but you could do buttons, velcro or even just tie them in a bow.  Enjoy.

The finished project (I need to redo the heart, so pretend that it isn't crooked)

And since I have 3 Little Princesses, I have three different envelopes (I like yarn weave in the red and pink ones better than the ribbon in the white)

If you have any questions, let me know.