Pillow Tutorial?

[blackmageheart]

Looks really nice so far... please keep posting as I'm also going to make shams (sometime soon) and have no idea where to start - your thread is becoming a sort of guide

[librebel]

Thanks, blackmageheart! I needed some encouragement.

[librebel]

I think I'm starting to come down with the cold that's been going around my library. So, due to turning into the Snot Monster, I've only been able to finish the side ribbons. I have had extra time to work on it though because I had to buy a tire today, so I missed work entirely. I may be missing it tomorrow too, depending on this cold, so, who knows? Maybe I'll have this done by the weekend.

This process has taught me not to sew the cut ends of the ribbon. I don't know why I thought it could before, but if you handle the sham after doing so, the ribbon will shred just enough to pull off the stitches. So, save yourself some time and don't sew the short ends of the ribbon.

[librebel]

All right. I was sick most of the day today, so I finally got to finish this sham! (And I will not be working with ribbon for some time.)

The fourth piece of ribbon went on pretty easily. I just had to pin it through one layer of fabric instead of using the full pinning technique I was using before. This meant all my pins went diagonally instead of length-wise and I'd remove them as I sewed the side framing the center piece and then sew the other side without using any pins.

[librebel]

And then came the zipper! This was the first time I've ever sewn a zipper into anything and I think it went pretty well. I trimmed the quarter inch or so of extra fabric off one side of the top of the sham and then pinned one half of the zipper to one side of the opening. The cut was pretty uneven, so I just focused on keeping the zipper straight. That went on pretty smoothly.

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Then I had to pin the opposite side and sew through the open zipper to attach that side. The second photo shows how I was backstitching with the zipper open. It also wasn't too difficult until I got down to the closed end of the zipper, which required some fiddling to finish.

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Finally, I tried to close the little gaps on both ends of the top of the pillow using some blanket stitching. I was going fast, so it isn't my best work, but the third photo is my attempt to show the finished zipper.

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And then there's the completed pillow! The sham is still a little loose, but jersey stretches quite a bit, so I've manipulated the sham to show off the stitching. Because it's all hand-stitched, it's a bit fragile, especially with the ribbon, but I did my best and I think it's cute.

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But no more attempting complicated pillows this holiday season. I'm downloading the Tetris and Mario bookmarks and calling it a night.

[Mak327]

Wow. Thanks for the tutorial. I was thinking about turning a piece in to a pillow, but now see it is a much more complex process than I was anticipating, I may skip that this year and give it a go next year.

[librebel]

It's probably not so bad if you have a sewing machine and if you sew everything on the front of the pillow BEFORE sewing the pillow pieces together.

I just wanted to document how I did mine to keep myself motivated, but thanks for the nice comment!