Layered Petal Pillow Tutorial

I made this pillow inspired by a duvet I would love to have but will never buy from Anthropologie.

I'll be sewing its mate and doing some serious thinking about whether I want to tackle the matching duvet cover, which would be a huge but entirely doable undertaking.

I'm placing a tutorial for this pillow under the cut.

Draw out two petal shapes on cardboard, one larger than the other.  Mine were the dimensions shown on the pattern in this photo.  Trace the pattern onto your fabric and cut out.  I cut out eight layers at a time.  For the pillow shown, I needed 30 large petals, and 22 small ones - cut out two pieces for each petal.

 Sew two petals together, leaving the bottom edge open. Turn right side out.

 Make a pleat along the unsewn edge of the petal.

Sew along the pleated edge.

It should end up looking like this.

Do this fifty one more times.  Try to think about how worth it this is going to be in the end.

My pillow was cut 14 inches square, if you like this size, cut out two pieces of  fabric 14 inches square! Or do whatever size you like, I'm not going to judge!

Draw a circle centered on one of your squares.  I used a very high tech circle making implement otherwise known as a dinner plate.  I used a washable pencil type of deal, only because I have one.  I have been known to use a regular lead pencil if I'm in a hurry. Nobody gets hurt.

 Start pinning down your first round of large petals around the circle you have drawn.  I don't know if you can see this well, but the petals are placed just about in the middle of this line.

  Once all the petals have been pinned down, sew them in place.  You don't need to have these absolutely perfectly placed within a millimeter of their lives, imperfection makes them one of a kind.

 Pin down your second round of large petals, and sew them in place.

 Now pin your first round of small petals and sew them down.

 Now pin and sew down your final round of small petals.

 For the center of the flower, measure the opening left that is not covered in petals, and then cut out two circles that size, plus a half of an inch in diameter.

 Sew the two circles together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance and then cut an X shape about an inch long in the center of one of the sides. 

Turn right side out, then insert a bit of quilt batting into the circle.

Stitch this circle piece in a spiral starting at the outer edge and working into the center, like so:

 Now pin down and stitch the circle into the center of your flower.

There are many ways to finish off the pillow at this point.  If you like to live dangerously, just sew your other square piece together with the petal piece and stuff it and hope it never gets dirty, or that if you wash it - the stuffing drys well.  You can do an envelope closure or several different closure methods, do whatever works for you, I won't disagree with your choice.

At this point, I'd like to offer up this advice on stuffing:  It's expensive.  Pillow forms are even more so.  Here's what I do.  I find out that someone is having a really good sale on bed pillows. I buy them dirt cheap. I cut them up into whatever size I need and sew up the seam. Done. Cheap.  Anyway! 

I chose to install a zipper on my pillow cover. I like the tight fit you get with them, and I want to be able to remove and wash this cover with little to no difficulty since it's white and I run a cat army around here. 

I will quickly and hopefully without too much pain, show you one easy way to install a zipper.

I used a 12 inch zipper for this cover.  Lay your zipper down on one side of your fabric, and make a marking at the top and bottom, indicating where the zipper starts and ends.  I don't know if you can see this very well, but I have made a mark with blue where the zipper pull starts, and where the metal bar ends.

You're going to sew this seam now as follows:   Using normal stitch length, sew your front and back pieces with right sides together from one edge to the blue mark.  Now set your stitch to the longest length (basting stitch) and sew along where your zipper will go until the second blue mark.  Now set your stitch back to normal stitch length and finish off the seam.

Press this seam open and lay your zipper so that the pull tab is face down on your seam.  Pin the zipper to the seam edges.

 Using your zipper foot, stitch down both the sides of the zipper, very close to the center where the teeth are located.

 Now remove the basting stitch along the seam where the zipper is located.

Ta dah! You just installed a zipper with no tears. Hopefully.

Now this is important - open your zipper at least half way or you will curse later.

  With right sides together, pin and sew along the remaining three edges of your pillow cover, being careful not to catch any of your petals in the seam as you go.

 And now turn right side out, because you totally opened up your zipper half way, am I right?

So you have just done made you a layered petal pillow, go pat yourself on the back and admire your work!