Monday, February 8, 2010

43. Make decent throw pillows

DONE

Look at my gorgeous pillows:

I actually made these a while back. A few were made from leftover fabric, and I bought some fabric at Joann's for the rest.

Pillows are really easy to make. The most difficult challenge is how to keep them from being lumpy. Using filling, it's really hard to avoid lumps. The material just doesn't stay smooth. So the key to un-lumpy pillows is to line the inside of the fabric with quilt batting. I put two layers of it. Here are my quick instructions:

1. Decide what size pillow you want and cut fabric, leaving a seam allowance.
2. Cut some quilt batting to the size of the fabric. 1 or 2 layers of batting is best. It is difficult to sew through more layers than that.
3. With wrong side of the fabric out, and the batting outside that, sew together 3 sides of the pillow. NOTE: the batting might be caught in the presser foot. Make sure to push down on the batting by the foot so it doesn't get caught. ALSO, I think the pillows look better if you round the corners as you're sewing the fabric. Square corners end up looking awkward.
4. At this point, I sew together about 80% of the 4th side, leaving 20% open so I can stuff it.
5. Tie the thread, and flip the pillow right-side out.
6. If you want to sew a button onto the pillow like some of mine have, do it at this point.
7. Stuff pillow. I break up fill into small bits so that it is less likely to be lumpy. Don't understuff: the pillow won't be comfy.
8. Sew the opening up by hand.

Pillows are pretty simple to make, and they look quite professional. The biggest thing is sewing the quilt batting to the fabric so that the pillows aren't lumpy.

To see my complete 50 in 500 List, click here.

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