flower pillow form cover

Do you remember THIS tutorial where I showed you how to make your own pillow form?

Well, we are going to cover that baby today with this:
Do you have an item of clothing hiding in the depths of your closet that you just can't bear to give away?
I've only had this problem one time.

With this Banana Republic sweater...

I know, it doesn't seem like much, but this was the sweater I was wearing when Mr. Wilson asked me to marry him.

I think it originally came from my sister's closet...years ago, but since no one wears it anymore...I decided to make a great use of it and make a pillow for my new room.

Now I can enjoy it everyday instead of hiding it away!

What you will need...
Your pre-made pillow form using THIS tutorial
(I'm working from a circular pillow form, 11.5 inches in diameter)
an old sweater or approximately 3/4 yrd. of fabric
scissors
sewing machine
needle
thread

I started by deconstructing my sweater.
Just cut on or close to all the seams.

Now, I grabbed the same plate I used for my pillow form pattern and traced it on one side of my sweater...then, cut.

Now you have the front of your pillow case.
For the back, I like to have two overlapping pieces so I can easily remove it and throw it in the wash.

Since my pillow form is 11.5 inches in diameter, I needed to cut two semicircles that measured 7 inches from the straight edge to the rounded edge. When you overlap the straight edges you then will get a full circle 11.5 inches in diameter to match the circle from the front of your pillow.

I know, a little complicated, but if I can do it...you can do it!

I like to strategically place the straight edge of my semicircles to include the bottom hem of my sweater...like this:
(I used 12 minutes to measure and cut out these three pieces)

Now that we have the pieces to our actual pillow form cover,
let's work on our cute embellishment!

I cut out a petal shape I liked on a piece of card stock measuring 2.5 inches at the widest point and 2.5 inches from bottom to tip.

Then, I traced it 42 times.

(I used 12 minutes to trace my petal pattern)

Then I cut out all those petals!
(I used 22 minutes to cut)

Now sit down at that sewing machine with your pile of petals.
You are going to take each petal -at the bottom- and fold it in thirds. Then send it through the machine. Here is a close up of the folded bottoms:

Send all those 42 petals through.
I didn't cut any threads between the petals, just to save myself some time. In doing so I created quite the cute garland:
(I used 12 minutes to sew the petals)

Set aside your petals and use some of your extra fabric to cut out three leaves.

I wanted mine to be three slightly different leaves so I traced the shapes I wanted on the back of the fabric and cut.
They are all 4-5 inches in length.
(I used 3 minutes to cut leaves)

Cut 19 petals from your petal garland (keep them connected to each other) and the front of your pillow cover...the circular shape...and lay out your petals to form a flower shape on the right side of the fabric.
This will make it easier to place you leaves.

Find a place next to your soon-to-be flower where those leaves look best and pin them in place.

Now, take away the petals and sew around the edge of each leaf, leaving about 1/4 to 1/8 of an inch around the edge. Then a small vine in the center. Like this:

Do the same with your other 2 leaves.
(I used approximately 12 minutes to sew the leaves on)

Now, put those 19 petals back on (they should still be connected - this will save you sooo much time).
Pin them where you like them and sew.
(This took approximately 2 minutes and 30 seconds)

Repeat with the second and third layers of petals.
Second layer contains 13 petals and the third layer contains 9 petals.
(this took approximately 6 minutes and 30 seconds)

Now, you should have something that looks like this:

For the center of my flower, I used a small piece from the edge of the sleeve measuring 9 inches long by 1.5 inches wide.
I then cut 7 petal shapes similar to the other petals I cut...but I did NOT separate them.
Just like this:

Then I sewed on the dotted line...making sure to NOT back stitch

At this point, there are two threads hanging from your sewn piece of fabric.
One, you will be able to pull on and one, you won't.
Pull on the one you can and your fabric will gather up...like this:
(I used approximately 3 minutes to cut, sew and gather this center piece)

Place it in the middle of your flower to make sure it will fit correctly.

Then, pin it in place and HAND sew...right on top of that dotted line I marked earlier. (I couldn't fit the flower under my machine to reach the center.)
Make sure the bottom of that last piece gathers together to make a nice center.
(I used approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds to hand stitch the center.)

Now your final step will be to put the back on. Grab your semi-circles and pin (right sides together) on top of your flower.

This picture only shows one semi-circle...make sure to layer the other semi-circle on top of the one picture and pin both in place...lining up the rounded edges with the edges of your circular front pillow piece.

Run through the sewing machine making sure to not catch any of your petals in the needle!

Turn right side out and put on top of that pillow form...
then admire your handy work!
(It takes approximately 4 minutes and 30 seconds to finish)

I'm in love....what do YOU think?!?!

All together it took me 95 minutes for this project from start to finish...but I didn't have time to do it all in one sitting so I accomplished it one little step at a time over the course of 3 days.

I hope you give it a try too!

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