Free Knitting Pattern: Faux Fur Heart Pillow
There is something undeniably satisfying about finishing a handmade pillow. You get to hold it, fluff it, toss it onto a couch or bed, and watch it transform a space. But a heart-shaped faux fur pillow? That takes the satisfaction to an entirely different level. Soft, sculptural, and endlessly giftable, this project has become one of those go-to makes that knitters return to again and again — for Valentine’s Day, nursery décor, wedding gifts, home decoration, or simply because they want something cozy and beautiful sitting on their favorite chair.
This free knitting pattern walks you through everything you need to create your own faux fur heart pillow from start to finish. Whether you are a beginner looking to stretch into a slightly more adventurous project or an experienced knitter who wants a quick and satisfying weekend make, this pattern is designed to be clear, approachable, and genuinely fun to work through.
Let’s get into it.
Why Faux Fur Yarn Is Worth the Hype
Before we dive into the pattern itself, it is worth talking about faux fur yarn for a moment, because if you have never worked with it before, there are a few things that will make your life much easier.
Faux fur yarn — sometimes called eyelash yarn or fur yarn — has long fibers or loops that extend from a central thread. When knitted up, these fibers create a plush, fluffy texture that mimics real fur. The result looks and feels incredibly luxurious, but the yarn itself is usually made from acrylic or polyester, which means it is machine washable, cruelty-free, and much more affordable than anything made from actual animal fiber.
The most important thing to understand about faux fur yarn is that it obscures your stitches almost completely. At first, this can feel frustrating. You are knitting away, unsure whether your tension is right, unable to see where one stitch ends and the next begins. But here is the good news: those hidden stitches also mean that small mistakes are hidden too. Dropped stitches, slightly uneven tension, the occasional twisted loop — all of it disappears into the fluff. For this reason, faux fur is actually a very forgiving yarn to knit with once you relax into it.
The trick is to go slowly, use your fingers as much as your eyes to feel where your needle should go, and trust the process. The fabric that emerges is worth every slightly uncertain moment.
Materials You Will Need
To knit this faux fur heart pillow, gather the following supplies before you begin.
Yarn: You will need approximately 200 to 250 yards of bulky or super bulky faux fur yarn. Popular choices include Lion Brand Go For Faux, Bernat Pipsqueak (for a slightly smaller, lighter pillow), or any chunky eyelash or fur-style yarn you love. For a classic look, white or cream is stunning. For something with personality, try blush pink, deep red, charcoal gray, or even a multicolored fur yarn.
Needles: US size 13 (9mm) straight or circular knitting needles. Because faux fur yarn is thick and sometimes slippery, bamboo or wooden needles tend to grip the yarn better than metal ones, which can be helpful for beginners.
Pillow form: A heart-shaped pillow insert works best, but if you cannot find one, you can use a standard square or round pillow insert and stuff it inside the knitted heart cover, adjusting the fill as needed. Alternatively, you can stuff the pillow yourself using polyfill or polyester fiberfill, which gives you total control over the final shape and firmness. For this pattern, a pillow insert or fiberfill equivalent to a 14- to 16-inch heart is ideal.
Additional supplies: A tapestry needle or large blunt yarn needle for seaming, stitch markers, scissors, and optionally a few straight pins for blocking or shaping.
Gauge: Approximately 9 stitches and 13 rows to 4 inches in stockinette stitch with bulky faux fur yarn on US 13 needles. Gauge is not critical for this project — your heart can be slightly larger or smaller without affecting the final result — but it is worth doing a quick swatch to make sure your pillow will be in the right size range.
Understanding the Heart Shape
A knitted heart pillow is worked in two identical pieces that are seamed together. The shape is achieved by starting at the bottom point of the heart and increasing outward on both sides as you work upward, then dividing the work to create the two rounded lobes at the top.
This approach means you knit from the tip of the heart toward the top, which is a lovely way to watch the shape emerge naturally from your needles.
Pattern Instructions
Abbreviations:
CO = cast on, K = knit, P = purl, K2tog = knit two together (decrease), M1L = make one left (increase), M1R = make one right (increase), BO = bind off, RS = right side, WS = wrong side, st(s) = stitch(es), rep = repeat.
Casting On and Working the Bottom Point
CO 3 sts using the long-tail cast on method.
Row 1 (RS): Knit across. (3 sts)
Row 2 (WS): Purl across. (3 sts)
Row 3 (RS): K1, M1R, K1, M1L, K1. (5 sts)
Row 4 (WS): Purl across. (5 sts)
Row 5 (RS): K1, M1R, K to last st, M1L, K1. (7 sts)
Row 6 (WS): Purl across. (7 sts)
Repeat rows 5 and 6 until you have 31 stitches on your needle, ending with a WS row. This will take you through approximately 20 rows total from your cast on, depending on your yarn and tension. At 31 stitches, your piece should measure roughly 6 to 7 inches wide and about 5 to 6 inches tall from the bottom point.
Working the Body
Once you have reached 31 stitches, you will work even in stockinette stitch (knit on RS rows, purl on WS rows) for 4 rows without any increases or decreases. This creates a flatter, wider section that forms the midsection of the heart.
Rows 21–24: Work even in stockinette stitch. (31 sts)
Dividing for the Two Lobes
This is where the heart really starts to take shape. You will divide your stitches and work each lobe separately.
Row 25 (RS): K15, then turn your work. Leave the remaining 16 sts on a stitch holder or a spare circular needle, or simply let them rest on the needle while you work the left lobe.
Working the Left Lobe:
Row 26 (WS): Purl across the 15 sts.
Row 27 (RS): K1, M1R, K to last 2 sts, K2tog. (15 sts — stitch count remains the same; you are shaping the curve by increasing on the inner edge and decreasing on the outer edge)
Row 28 (WS): Purl across.
Row 29 (RS): K1, M1R, K to last 2 sts, K2tog.
Row 30 (WS): Purl across.
Row 31 (RS): K2tog, K to last 2 sts, K2tog. (13 sts)
Row 32 (WS): Purl across.
Row 33 (RS): K2tog, K to last 2 sts, K2tog. (11 sts)
Row 34 (WS): Purl across.
Row 35 (RS): K2tog, K to last 2 sts, K2tog. (9 sts)
Row 36 (WS): Purl across.
Row 37 (RS): K2tog, K to last 2 sts, K2tog. (7 sts)
Row 38 (WS): Purl across.
Row 39 (RS): K2tog, K3, K2tog. (5 sts)
Row 40 (WS): Purl across.
Row 41 (RS): K2tog, K1, K2tog. (3 sts)
Row 42 (WS): Purl across.
Row 43 (RS): K3tog. (1 st)
Cut yarn and pull through the remaining stitch to secure.
Working the Right Lobe:
Rejoin yarn to the remaining 16 sts with RS facing. Knit across all 16 stitches.
Row 26 (WS): Purl across.
Row 27 (RS): K2tog, K to last st, M1L, K1. (16 sts)
Row 28 (WS): Purl across.
Row 29 (RS): K2tog, K to last st, M1L, K1.
Row 30 (WS): Purl across.
Row 31 (RS): K2tog, K to last 2 sts, K2tog. (14 sts)
Row 32 (WS): Purl across.
Continue decreasing as for the left lobe, working K2tog at both ends on every RS row until 3 stitches remain, then K3tog on the final row. Cut yarn and secure.
Making the Second Piece
Repeat the entire pattern from the beginning to create a second identical heart piece. This will be the back of your pillow.
Finishing the Pillow
Place your two heart pieces with wrong sides together (right sides facing outward, so the fluffy texture is on the outside of both pieces). Thread a length of yarn onto your tapestry needle and begin seaming the two pieces together using a whipstitch or mattress stitch around the entire perimeter of the heart.
Work slowly around the curves at the top of the lobes, easing the edges together so they lie smoothly. When you are about three-quarters of the way around, stop seaming and insert your pillow form or begin stuffing with fiberfill. Push stuffing gently into the bottom point first, then fill the body and the lobes. You want the pillow to feel plump and full but not so overstuffed that the seams pull or the shape distorts.
Once you are happy with the fill, continue seaming the remaining opening closed. Weave in all your yarn ends securely. Because faux fur yarn can be a bit slippery, weave each end in multiple directions and for several inches to make sure nothing works loose over time.
Give the pillow a gentle fluff and reshape with your hands. If the fur looks a little flat from handling, use a soft-bristle brush or pet slicker brush to gently brush the fibers outward. The pillow will spring back to life almost instantly.
Tips for Knitting With Faux Fur Yarn
A few extra pointers that will make this project go more smoothly, especially if it is your first time working with this type of yarn.
Work in good lighting. Because the stitches are hidden beneath the fibers, you need all the visual help you can get. Natural daylight or a good task lamp beside your knitting chair makes a real difference.
Count your stitches at the end of every row. This is standard advice for any project, but it is especially important with faux fur, because you cannot easily see a dropped stitch or an accidental yarn over until you count and find your number is off.
Keep your tension relaxed. Faux fur yarn can create tension issues if you grip it too tightly. A loose, even tension produces a more consistent fabric and makes it easier to insert your needle into each stitch.
Use a contrasting stitch marker at the center of your work when you divide for the lobes. Even though you are working flat at that point, a marker at the midpoint during earlier rows can help you find the right place to divide.
If you make a mistake, do not panic. As mentioned earlier, faux fur is remarkably forgiving. Most errors are invisible in the finished fabric. If you do need to rip back a row or two, do it slowly and carefully, one stitch at a time, to avoid losing stitches into the fibers.
Customizing Your Faux Fur Heart Pillow
One of the best things about this pattern is how easily it adapts to different looks and purposes.
For a smaller pillow — perhaps for a child’s bedroom or as a decorative accent — use a lighter weight faux fur yarn and smaller needles, reducing the needle size to US 10 or 11. The same shaping will produce a heart roughly half the size of the original.
For a larger, more dramatic pillow, go up in needle size and yarn weight. Some crafters have used two strands of bulky faux fur held together on US 17 needles to create enormous, cloud-like heart pillows that make a real statement on a sofa.
You can also mix yarns. Knitting one side of the pillow in faux fur and the other in a smooth, coordinating velvet or chenille yarn gives you a two-sided pillow with completely different textures on each face. This is a practical choice too, since it uses less of the more expensive faux fur yarn.
For a gift, consider adding a personal touch — a small embroidered initial on the back panel, a ribbon woven through a row of yarn overs near the edge, or a button closure on the back panel instead of seaming it completely shut, which would allow the insert to be removed for washing.
Caring for Your Finished Pillow
Most faux fur yarns are machine washable on a gentle cycle in cold water. Check the label of your specific yarn to confirm, but in general these pillows are wonderfully low-maintenance.
Lay the pillow flat to dry rather than putting it in the dryer, which can cause the fibers to mat or clump. Once dry, a quick fluff with your hands or a light brushing with a soft brush restores the plush texture completely.
If the pillow cover ever needs replacing — perhaps after years of use or if you simply want a fresh look — you can easily knit a new one using this same pattern and slip the original insert inside.
The Perfect Handmade Gift
This faux fur heart pillow is one of those handmade gifts that genuinely delights people. It photographs beautifully, which makes it a natural choice for anyone who shares their home décor on social media. It sits perfectly on a bed, a reading chair, a nursery glider, or a living room sofa. It works across age groups and decorating styles, from minimalist Scandinavian interiors to maximalist, color-filled spaces.
It is also a gift that communicates something real about the time and care you put into making it. A faux fur heart pillow is not a quick five-minute craft. It takes a few evenings of focused, satisfying work. The person who receives it will understand, at least in some intuitive way, that this was made with them in mind.
Make it for a best friend, a partner, a new parent, a grandmother, a sister. Make one for yourself and put it somewhere you will see it every day. Make several in different colors and sizes and arrange them together for a maximalist, textural display that turns a plain couch into something that looks deliberately, beautifully designed.
However you use this pattern, I hope it brings you the particular pleasure that comes from making something soft and beautiful with your own two hands. Happy knitting.
