how to: make a ruffled pillow

Hello friends! Merrilee here, from mermag. I’m so excited to be here and share this little ruffle pillow tutorial with you. It’s super easy…just keep on reading and see!

Items you will need are:

a. An old pillow to recover or a pillow form found at most any fabric store
c. Fabric of your choosing. I purchased one yard of 45” white muslin (because I like the look and it was only $1.79 a yard). I found this to be enough to both cover the pillow and create the ruffles
b. Fabric scissors
c. Sewing machine and thread (or needle and thread if hand sewing)

1. Cut out the fabric. For my pillow I decided to recover an old pillow I already owned so I used the fabric from the original pillow as a pattern. If you using a pillow form, just make sure you have enough for about a ½ inch seam allowance (or whatever you are comfortable with).

Sew three sides of the pillow leaving the forth side open. Clip the corners, turn inside out and iron.

2. Cut strips for your ruffles. You can do these any size you like. I cut out eight strips of two-inch wide fabric that were twice as long as the pillow. You could do longer or shorter depending on how “ruffley” you want your pillow. I left my edges raw because that was the look I was going for.

3. Baste stitch down the middle of each strip of fabric.

4. Pull one end of the thread and scrunch up the fabric.

5. Play around with it until desired ruffle look is achieved.

6. Pin ruffles to pillowcase. You can adjust your ruffles a bit more at this stage.

7. Sew ruffles right onto to tops side of pillowcase being very careful not to catch the backside of case.

8. Insert stuffing or pillow form. Fold under remaining side of pillowcase and stitch close.

9. Fluff up your pillow and enjoy your new creation!

And that’s it! Easy right? I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. I love this series Kelly+Olive have going on here and I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I’d love to see any pillows you might make so be sure to link back!

Thanks, loves!

Mer

thanks so much merrilee! we know we've seen pillows just like this for 20 times the price! we can't wait to try this....EDIT:  if you're a little shy of winging it with this tutorial, vanessa christenson just contacted us with an awesome pattern for sale which expertly guides you through the process.