Two weeks ago I made a yellow tufted bench using a velvet fabric and today I’m going to be using the same fabric to make a throw pillow which if you hang on with me, I’ll be showing you how to make this decorative pillow.
This decorative pillows can be used on indoor bench, sofas, couch, bed or wherever you need a pop of colour and you can also mix it with other window seat cushions , bolster pillow and sofa cushions to garnished the look of your living room.
It won’t be appropriate to tell you it was easy to make on the contrary, it was very difficult because it requires proper maths calculations which means measuring exact dots and lines on the fabric, and cutting the right measurement of fabric to fit the foam you’ll be using. With this mentioned, if you make any mistake with the calculations or cut out the wrong measurement you might end up without no pillow unless you have enough fabrics to play with.
So to make a kick-ass throw pillows, first gather all your work materials together:
- Velvet fabric
- Ruler tape “cm”
- Pencil or pen
- Scissors
- Upholstery Needle & curved needle
- Thread (double thread for to avoid breaking)
- Pillow
- Upholstery Buttons
STEP 1: Bring all your materials together, like I mentioned earlier i’ll be using the velvet fabric I had left from making the bench, a scissor, an upholstery Needle, a pen and a ruler tape.
STEP 2: To get started lay your fabric on a flat surface and use a ruler tape to measure cutting out a rectangle measuring 50 cm horizontally and 158 cm vertically, and 20 cm on each end of the fabric horizontally leaving the middle free for the dots. If you intend on making a bigger round cushion I recommend don’t cut the fabric out yet until you make your dots.
STEP 3: Take a pencil or a pen to make 34 dots in the middle of the fabric in form off a grid, use a pen that doesn’t bleed to mark the dots, be sure to mark only the inner side of the fabric leaving 4 cm between each dots. Though we’re going to be pin-tucking the dots in the 1st and 2nd column, then the 3rd 4th and 5th column separately.
STEP 4: On the grid you’re going to draw a lattice arranged in a diagonal pattern, this is where you’re going to be hand stitching to decorate the outer part of the pillow. I don’t know if you can see it very well but the lattice pattern will look exactly like this.
STEP 5: You’re going to take an upholstery needle to start hand stitching basically in a monotonous sequence, let me try and explain this because it can be a little confusing.
Insert your needle and thread from the right side of the first dot on the 2nd column and tie a knot to prevent it from slipping, then insert the needle in the second dot of the 1st column. At this point the thread is in a diagonal then drag them together to connect the diagonal bringing each end together and pinch behind the fabric to help make securing a knot easier.
STEP 6: Insert the needle and thread in the second dot of the 2nd column leaving the thread visible in a vertical sequence and tie a knot to secure it. Repeat the same process for column 4th and 5th, the 3rd was practically unused.
STEP 7: Here’s how the gathers of all the columns looks like from inside
STEP 8: And how it looks on the right side of the fabric
STEP 9: Cut foam about 30 cm wide and 9 cm height.
Tips: Is highly recommended to stitch the both ends of the rectangle fabric before you begin the next step.
STEP 10: Rap the smocked fabric around the cushion and arrange the gathers together in a meeting point to end in the middle of the round cushion. If there is excess fabric gathering on the top trim it off.
STEP 11: Insert a thread into the upholstery needle and begin stitching each layer one after the other to hold the gathers together and repeat step twice for security.
STEP 12: Once you have all stitched together insert a curved needle to sew in the craft round button, use the upholstery needle to sew deep in/out of the cushion to tighten the button and repeat x4 secure the thread using both needles by tying them together.
Just in case you’re wondering how to make an upholstery button in the making of the tufted bench I explained a step-by-step how to create an upholstery button.
Are you struggling and you don’t know how to hand stitch? Don’t worry this will teach you six basic hand stitching steps and you don’t really need to be an expert to hand sew.
This decorative pillows can be used on indoor bench, sofas, couch, bed or wherever you need a pop of colour and you can also mix it with other window seat cushions and sofa cushions to garnish the look your corner.
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