You will need: 5 2 1/2 in x 11 in pieces of printed cotton fabric (I'm using a tan and country red check), 2 13in x 13 in pieces of light neutral muslin, poly fill, basic sewing implements
1. Place two of the printed cotton strips together, right sides together. Adjust the thread tension on your sewing machine all the way up. Set your stitch to the longest stitch length. Sew down one long side of the two strips, moving fairly slowly. The fabric should gather into a cute little ruffle. (Have you noticed yet that I avoid pinning like it's the bubonic plague? Anytime precise measurements are not absolutely a necessity and I'm not sewing a huge length, I find it unnecessary. I also avoid precise measurements at almost any cost.)
2. Repeat with another two strips. Sew the ruffled double strips together using the same method (right sides together, 'ruffle' setting still on, sewing down the length of the fabric). Now sew the remaining strip in the same fashion. You should now have a ruffly rectangle of your printed fabric. You may notice that I messed up and put half the seams on the outside. It wasn't my intention, but I decided it suited the primitive look I was going for. Your call, though!
3.Place your ruffly rectangle face down on one of your 13x13 muslin squares. Center it. Sew around the edges of the ruffly rectangle, using the edge of your presser foot to judge your seam allowance. You may want to zig zag around the outermost edge of the rectangle as well. I like to use a good zig zag to finish any edge.
4. Now for the heart. Either make a heart stencil that will fit in your ruffly rectangle with at least 1/4 in of leeway then center it on the muslin and trace it , or free hand it directly onto the muslin. Verrrry slooowly stitch along that heart outline.
5. Pull the muslin away from the ruffles and make a little snip in the middle. Stick your scissors in there and snip around the inside of the heart, being careful not to catch the ruffles or the heart's stitching. You've now finished the front!
6. Place your front face down on the other muslin square. Pin around the edges. Sew down three sides using that presser foot seam allowance, then zig zag those three sides as well. Sew the last side only 2/3 of the way down.
7. Flip your pillow right side out. Poke the corners all the way out. There are fancy tools for that, but I just use a dowel rod or any other long skinny object that's handy. Stuff your pillow.
8. Fold the edges of the hole in neatly until the edge is level. Pin. Use a straight stitch to close up the hole, or you could hand stitch it if you like (I don't like).
Voila!! A cute Valentine's day throw pillow. You could use this method to do other themes as well. A pumpkin for fall or a Christmas tree, perhaps. I have also envisioned an Easter egg, stripes built right in. You could also adjust the measurements and make any size pillow you like, or maybe use the idea for the front to make a wall hanging or...the possibilities aren't endless, but there are a lot of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment