Muslin Pillow

This post is long past due. Like, before Thanksgiving past due. But I have a very good reason. I was very mad at this pillow for a long time, and I've finally forgiven it enough to write about it. I got so frustrated during this {super simple} sewing process. Nothing was going right, it was kind of late at night and my mom {who is experienced} kept skipping steps in the tutorial we loosely followed and I would get confused. It turned out well in the end and it is dang cute on our new couch!

Here is my finished product

I got the inspiration {HERE}. We used her basic measurements, but mom kind of had me go on my own...so we just kind of played it by ear. 

I don't know if I was just not in a sewing/crafting mood, {I had just finished my Lamp ReVamp and may have been just tired} but I just was losing patience too easily. 

Right now it is on our brand new couch as decoration only. No one is allowed to use it, regardless of how soft the pillow or how gentle they "promise" to be. I worked too dang hard!! :)

Here is my tutorial...this is not going to be quite step by step, or 100% accurate terminology, but I'll attempt....it has been 3 months after all ;)

Supplies:

18in pillow, pillow form, or pillow stuffing. {I used stuffing}

Hot Glue Gun {for the fabric flowers}

1 yard muslin {this includes the muslin fabric flowers}

At least 20 inches each of 3 other fabrics 

      *If you look at the other tutorial, you will see her measurements done like this:

          So, in MY mind I could of had them cut just 4 inches, 2.5 inches & 5.5 inches....simple and cheap. 

          Well, Thank goodness mom was there because she mentioned that your pattern runs length wise, so 

          you need to cut the 19/20 inches length wise on patterns that matter. All 3 of my patterned fabric ran    

          length wise, whereas really only her green and brown damask one did.

We did the front side of the pillow first. You can use however much of each fabric you want, but with an 18 inch pillow we decided to do about 7 inches muslin and split the rest of the 11 inches between the other 3 fabrics, kind of depending on how big their design is. 

For instance, we wanted all of this heart pattern on the pillow. Make sure you cut at least 1/2 inch extra on each side to make room for your stitch.

This was probably the point where things went crazy....with the kind of technology there is today, you would think sewing machines would become slightly more user friendly!! Once started sewing, I kept going crooked or my thread would mess up....it was disastrous! 

Now you will want to pin together your fabrics, make sure your fabric all folds the same way, so there is no weird bulging. Like this...

This stitch was optional, it is just for decoration and a little extra reinforcement.

I don't have any pictures of the back, but we did an "envelope" closure and sewed on buttons for decoration. You just sew two 9 inch strips to each side and have the extra meet in the middle. Stitch the bottom of each and then stuff. 

I also did 3 muslin fabric flowers and put a pearl in the middle of them. Sorry, I was super irritated at that point and was not in the snapping pictures mood. 

Like I said, this is definitely not the greatest tutorial, but one day when I become an actual *seamstress*, I'll be able to do more step by step instructions. 

Here is the finished product! Super proud, and so not in a hurry to tackle sewing again quite yet :)