r-anne-dom : a place for me (anne) to leave random blog posts.
Such as:
..knitting, sewing, and other random activities pursued
..Girl Guides of Canada : yep, Guiding Lives Here
..the 4 shops on Etsy : one features quality handmade items; the second has lots of patterns, & crafting supplies; the third is stocked with Vintage; and the fourth is guiding flowers.
Enjoy the r-anne-domness!

December 16, 2015

Tutorial - Bow Pillow

Tutorial - Bow Pillow


Here is a tutorial to provide more detail in making the "Bow Pillow" as shown on the Kate Spade blog here: click.

First I measured my pillow insert.  

Next, before cutting the fabric, I draped it over the pillow to check for overlap.
I want my pillow cover to be removable so I'm adding extra to make an opening.

My pillow was 21" x 15".
I cut my fabric to be 54" x 16.5".
(The fabric above is folded at the 27" mark.) 

I sewed a quick hem on both 16.5" ends.
They will be folded when I make the opening for putting the pillow insert inside.

I put the pillow insert inside the cut fabric and marked where the opening would be, and where the centre would be for the tucks as mentioned on the Kate Spade blog.

Here is the marking for the tucks. 

Sewing the tucks.

Now, the overlap for the opening was marked earlier.
So I lined up my hemmed ends and folded them to give them nice wide hems.

Here they are pinned in place.

Pin the long seams.

All sewn up! 
And the pillow insert has been inserted!
Now...just the band left.

I took a scrap piece of fabric and used it to measure the length of the band.

Here is the scrap - with the pin marking how long I need the band to be...27" 
(hm, what a coincidence!)

I followed the instructions on the Kate Spade blog to make the band about 12-14" wide, then folded and seamed along the long edge. 

Pinned in place, and I could have cut it shorter - probably the 23" the blog suggests would have been fine. 
I marked both ends of the band with pins. 
This is so that when I hem and sew it together, I know exactly how long I want it to be.

Hem one of the short ends. 

Insert the other short end into the hemmed one. 

Here is where that pinning came in handy.
I had pinned the band when it was around the pillow.
Here you see the one end inserted until the pins meet.
I sewed straight across through all layers.

And there you go!
Done!

Looks lovely eh!