Another pillow tutorial (and curtains)

It's time for another pillow tutorial.  This one is so easy, it's ridiculous.

This is the one that Jeff asked me if I knew the "pleats," as he called them, weren't even.  He's a perfectionist in regards to his own projects and I'm possibly the complete opposite so I'm good for him, right?  Right.

Step one.

Cut out your the squares (or whatever shape you choose) for your pillow.

Step two.

Cut a strip of fabric you want to use for the ruffle, or whatever that thing in the middle is.  You'll want it to be 1.5 to 2 times as long as the width of the pillow for making gathers.

The width of the strip is up to you. 

Step three.

The ends of the fabric won't matter, but you'll want to "hem" the long edges of the strip unless you want the edges to have a frayed look when your done making the ruffle.  I folded them under almost an inch and machine stitched it at the standard 5/8" mark.  I also plan to use this line of stitches as my sewing guide when I make it into a ruffle.

Step four.

 

Just eyeballing it, I pinch up the fabric and shove it under the foot all willy nilly with no rhyme or reason as I sew another line to hold these ruffles in place.  That's what gives it the nice (or as in Jeff's case, perplexing) uneven ruffled look.  The key to making this work is to sew slowly.

When your finished, it will look something like this:

Step four and a half.

Do it again going down the other side of the strip.

Oh!  This is important!  Make sure you're sewing in the same direction on both sides of the fabric to insure that your ruffles will want to fold in the same direction.  Whew!  I almost forgot that part!

Step five.

Iron the ruffles down into submission.  My goal, aside from not getting burned, was to get the folds in the fabric to all face the same direction all the while encouraging their unevenness.  You could skip this step if you want to go for a fluffier ruffle.

Step six.

Pin it to the front square of your pillow fabric and sew it on. 

Step seven through ten.

Finish the pillow in the usual way then enjoy.

A tutorial for the white pillow can be found here.  It's easy too.

I used the same ruffling technique for my curtains minus the ironing step.

After making a pocket for the rod, I pinched and gathered and sewed five lines across the width of the fabric then I stitched over those same lines a second time to reinforce them because I don't want the threads to break when I tug the curtains closed, and they will if you don't.  Trust me.

I made them from muslin which, I think, is typically meant as a backer for quilts.  Maybe.  I don't know.

You could use a sheet or whatever kind of fabric you wanted to make these.  Anyway, I use the extra wide stuff so that when the curtains are closed, there is enough fabric to completely cover the window, even with all those gathers.  My curtains are fully functional so that was necessary, but if yours are only for decoration it doesn't matter how wide the fabric is and you might as well save yourself the money and buy the standard 45" wide fabric.

Remember a while back, I said I wanted white billowy curtains that blow around in the breeze because that would make things seem light and airy and relaxing?  Well, it works.

   

The bed keeps them from billowing to their full potential, but that's okay,

it still has a very relaxing effect.

Ahhh.

I'm having fun linking up at:

Poppies at Play:  I'm a Creative Cat

and

Sew-n-Tell at amylouwho

and

Frugalicious Friday at Finding Fabulou$

and

Feature Yourself Friday at Fingerprints on the Fridge

and

The Persimmon Perch for Made it Mondays

and

It's So Very Creative

and

Show and Tell at Blue Cricket Design

and

Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts

and

Be Inspired at Room to Inspire