A Tutorial

So, someone wanted to know how I made the appliqued pillows. So here's the tutorial. It will probably be long. And there is probably a better way to do them. But this how I did them. Oh, and I just need to say that I have been loving sewing lately. I've been getting a lot done too. I'll have to post some of my little projects soon. And now, lets make an appliqued pillow.


First choose what your going to put on your pillow. I love this fabric. It's so fun. It's from IKEA. On this pillow I am using the lion and the giraffe.





Cut out your shape. It helps to have really sharp scissors.



On the smaller details, like the giraffes tail and horns, I left some of the background fabric.



Next, you need to cut out your pillow. I used a pattern for mine but you don't really have to have one.



If you don't use a pattern you need to make sure that your corners curve in a bit. If you leave perfectly square corners your finished pillow will have pointy corners.



Once you have both sides of your pillow cut out, iron them and arrange your applique on the top piece.



Then you need to pull out your fusible web. I just had the kind that comes on a roll. But I have 5 kids, so it is not longer on the roll.



But it still works. I stretch the fusible web across the longest part of the applique.



Then I cut it (or tear it). Then I fold half of the appleque back, and put the piece of fusible web under it.



Then flip it back down and iron it. Then just keep ironing pieces between the fabric until it's all stuck down. (You can also buy fusible webbing in sheets and cut it to fit your shape. I was just using what I had.)



Then have your cute son hold it up to make sure it's all stuck down good.



Now it's time to sew. You need to set your machine on a small zig zag stitch.



Oh, and you might want to set your laptop behind your sewing machine and listen to your favorite Pandora station too.



I always start in a corner if I can.



You might want to go slow to make sure that you stiches are close together and nice and smooth. The straight parts are easy but eventually you'll have to go around a curve or turn a corner.



When I get to a corner, I lift the foot and turn the fabric. Just make sure you don't leave too much of a gap because it will make the fabric bunch up.



I just go really slow around curves guiding the fabric the direction it needs to go. This fabric is pretty thin and puckered quite a bit in some spots.



So you need to iron.



The iron will smooth it out a lot. I still had a lot a bunching around the curvy parts on this one. Once the pillow if stuffed you'll barely notice though.

Then if you're me, your baby will wake up and you'll have to take a break. You probably already know how, but I'll show you how to put the pillow together later.