Felted Flower Pillow & Zipper Tutorial

Hello All!
   Finally back into the groove of the week. It is raining cats & dogs here and it was totally inspiring to get started on some crafts and projects.  I have been really into decorating my house for fall.  I have taken 3 pillows off our couch and have made fun slipcovers for them especially for the season.  The first pillow was a polka dot pattern with a felted owl on it. You can see that project here.  This pillow was a lot more work but it ended up super cute! Because i'm impatient here are the before and after pics now!

Before:

After:

Cute huh?!?

So here's how it's done!

Supplies:

• 1/2 yard material in color of your choice
• 1/2 yard felt in color of your choice (you will have plenty of extra but err on the side of precaution so you can mess up if necessary!)
• SHARP scissors
• ruffle pattern (i free hand drew one on a large notecard and cut it out)
• standard sewing supplies (machine, needle, thread, pins)
• Decorative Button
• Invisible Zipper )12-14 inches
• Hot Glue Gun

Directions:

1. I decided to make the decorative flower first.  I used a circle of old felt I had to glue the petals onto a base.  I drew a small petal pattern on a notecard and cut out a TON of these little suckers. Then carefully glued them onto the felt overlapping to get the flower effect. 

2.   Then I cut out the fabric into 2 identical squares.  I had a 16 by 16 pillow so I made my squares 17x17.  

3.   Then the fun part....Tracing and cutting out all those sweet little ruffles.  It was a long process. But 2 episodes of Glee and 3 of Gilmore Girls over a period of a week & it was done!

I carefully layed them all out in a pattern on one of the pieces of fabric and sewed them on.  I had to piece some together for the longer length.  I chose to do mine at an angle but any direction you choose would be great!

4.  Now for the zipper.  With the right sides together pin your fabric together on the bottom.  Place the zipper on the middle and mark the opening and closing on each side.  Sew from the end to each mark leaving a huge gap in between for the zipper.

5.  Then open up your fabric and iron the seams open as well as the fabric creating a little flap on each side. 

6.  Now you are ready to pin and sew your zipper! Pin your zipper on the tailored side of the fabric as close as possible to make it invisible.  Using the zipper foot on your machine top stitch the zipper into place!

7.  Once that is done OPEN YOUR ZIPPER!!! i cannot stress this step enough! Trust me!! OPEN YOUR ZIPPER. otherwise you will spin some time with a safety pin and a huge light cursing your stupidity (i wouldn't know ANYTHING about that)

8.  From there its simple! Put the right sides of the fabric together, pin carefully so everything matches up and sew it closed!! 

9.  Once it is right side out again I would place it on the pillow so you can get great placement on your decorative flower.  Hand sew the flower into place and Wha-La!! Beautiful Fall Pillow! 

Dont be surprised if you see a lot of pillows soon! i am trying to build up some stock for a boutique coming up in December and am really excited to get creative! Until next time...

Blessings!