Hello, Ribbon Retreat readers! It’s me again, Sarah from Bombshell Bling (formerly Craft Quickies). I hope that you enjoyed my Dr. Seuss room series! I am THIS CLOSE to being totally done with the whole room, so I hope you tune in to see the FULL finished product!
Today I am excited to share with you my ruffled fall pillows. In October, I made some extremely Halloweeny pillows for our kid-friendly family room, which you can see HERE, but I wanted something a bit more elegant for our formal living room. The couch is beige and the pillows are cream and brown, except for a couple of blue pillows, so I decided to make new covers for the blue pillows that I will be able to use each fall. Let’s take a look at how I did it.
For this project I used the following fabrics:
* Moda Essential Dots in Chocolate, 1 yard
* Moda Posh Pumpkins, Little Fatties Set
Start by measuring your pillows. All of my measurements will fit MY pillows. Obviously you will need to adjust yours a bit to fit your own pillows. The pillow shown here is 17″ x 20″.
You will use these measurements to cut three pieces of fabric, one for the front panel and two for the back. These will be envelope pillow cases so that they will be easy to get on and off. For the front piece I added an inch on each side of the pillow measurement to allow for seams and so forth. That made my front panel 18″ x 21″. For the back two pieces, you should divide your measurements in half and add 3″ to each piece because they will need to overlap. For the back pieces I cut two pieces, each measuring 18″ x 13″.
Iron down a 1/2″ hem on one side of each of your back pieces.
Sew down the hem, being sure to back stitch at the start and finish of the piece.
Time for ruffling! Cut your strips of fabric. I used a ruffle that was 1″, a ruffle that was 2″, and a ruffle that was 3″. I haven’t made the second pillow yet, in all honesty, so we will see what I “feel” tonight when I’m finishing it. I cut them the length of the fat quarters, although that meant I had to angle them on the pillow since they get shorter when they are gathered into ruffles.
To make ruffles you simply baste down the center of your strip (use a long stitch) and then hold onto one of the strings and scrunch it with your fingers. There are VERY detailed instructions for this on my Grinch Ruffle Dress tutorial that I did for The Ribbon Retreat last year.
Once you have your ruffle gathered, lay it out and pin it to your pillow.
Now sew slowly over the stitching to secure the ruffle into place. Try to be precise, but don’t stress over it if you aren’t. As my friend always tells me “No one will see that from a galloping horse!” Ummm….what does that even mean?! It’s a weird thing her grandma always said when she was teaching her to sew, and now I say it all of the time. It makes me smile.
Before the final sewing step, I also pulled the strings a bit on the edges of my ruffles to rough them up a bit and give them that worn, shabby look.
At this point you will lay your front panel facing UP and lay the two back panels on top of it. They should have the “right sides” facing IN, and they will overlap, creating the envelope effect. Pin them into place, prior to sewing, and then sew all the way around the outside of the pillow.
(There are very detailed pictures and instructions for this in THIS tutorial.)
Turn that puppy inside out and stuff your pillow inside of it, and you are DONE! Pretty, right?
I hope that you enjoyed this tutorial and that you use this technique with any fabric you would like to use to really customize your home decor!
Thank you Sarah! What a gorgeous decorative pillow. I love, LOVE the ruffles and your fabric choices. This would be the easiest pillow to personalize to your own style and decorating tastes. This is such a great project to make for your own home or to giveaway as a gift for a friend, neighbor, or loved one. Thank you so much Sarah for sharing your brilliance with us today! 🙂
This pillow is so customizable, you could add more ruffles or not add any at all, or you could choose your favorite fabric to match your existing decor…OR you could choose fabric that doesn’t match your decor at all which will force you to get all new decor. 🙂 Want to really embellish your new pillow…try adding some gorgeous ribbon, ric rac, or lace. It would look terrific!
For more FABulous pillow tutorials…click HERE. They are soooooooooo fun!
Are you a decorative pillow person? Ok…how many do you have on your couch??? Let’s see who has the most. 🙂
Happy Creating & Happy Pillows!
