The Shabby Creek Cottage

Hundreds of ideas for creative ways to eat, make & decorate!

How to make the farmhouse inspired flower pillow

Back in my Etsy days, my flower pillow was one of my all time best sellers. I’ve made so many of these pillows it’s practically insane. It’s pretty simple to make – but it does take a bit of patience. However it really was one of the prettiest things I made to order, and after I stopped selling them people started asking how I made them. So that’s what I’m sharing… how to make the flower pillow.

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fluffy flower pillow

Flower Pillow Tutorial

Supply list:

The Shabby Creek Cottage TV
  • muslin fabric
  • 1 premade pillow cover (or the fabric + zipper to make one)
  • 1 pillow insert
  • hot glue + gun

Tools:

cutting muslin

To start, you need 108 inch wide muslin (or 3 yards of any other fabric). You need three 4-inch strips. Just snip…

bleached muslin strips

…and rip.

muslin strips

Stitch the ends together, so you have one super long (at least 9 ft.) strip.

Ruffler foot

Now you’re going to use the ruffler foot for a sewing machine… unless you want to ruffle it by hand (and that’s cool, too.)

making ruffles

Fold the strip in half, putting the folded end into the ruffler.

sewing ruffles

Then ruffle it up! (My ruffler was set to ruffle every stitch, smallest gather, stitch length 4.0).

how to make a flower pillow

Once the fabric strips have been ruffled, it’s time to make the flower part of the flower pillow.

fabric flower tutorial

Take the end, and begin to roll it up. Not too tight, but good and snug.

making a fabric flower

After you get a couple of inches rolled, you’re ready to glue.

fabric flower

Using the hot glue gun, put down a dot, right on the seam line, and roll into it. Add another bit of glue every 2-3 inches, keeping it all held together.

rolling ruffles

You want to keep the folded edge as even as possible. It’s going to turn out a bit towards the end, but the closer together you keep it in the beginning, the better it will look.

large fabric flower

Once it’s too big to hold in one hand, flip it upside down and you’re going to start gluing every inch of it. Just run a bead of glue, then lay the ruffle down as you go. It’s much easier at this point because it holds itself up.

handmade pillow flower

Just glue & press the ruffle in until you get to the end. When you get to the end, just let it stop where it is, it’s ok, I promise.

huge fabric flower

See, the outer edges puff up a bit, but it just makes it prettier in the end.

burlap pillow cover

You have a pillow form ready, right? I’ve found burlap is the easiest. Just make your form, then find a piece of glass (mine came out of an old frame I made into a chalkboard). {Find instructions for a pillow cover here.}

how to make a pillow

Slide the glass inside the form, putting it under where you want the flower to be.

flower pillow

Now take your flower, and smother the backside of it in hot glue.

DIY pillow cover

Gobs of glue, I tell ya.

pillow

Now smush the flower right where you want it on front of the pillow cover (on top of the glass.) Hold it there for a sec to let the hot glue quit oozing.

ruffles

And now the magic happens….. after all those rounds of ruffles…

pretty pillow

It’s done!

florette pillow

Just pop in your pillow form and you’re good to go. And that’s how to make the big fat flower pillow.

easy DIY farmhouse flower pillow - what a great project! love the results she gets with a little scrap fabric!

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Comments

  4. hi Gina – that fabric flower makes a beautiful embellishment. I like how you have those soft edges. Thank you for hostessing and hope you’re having a wonderful week 🙂 diane

    Reply

  7. Wow!! I love that pillow. I’ll have to make a couple for my girls. Thanks for sharing. And thanks for hosting! The new button looks great. ~ Catie

    Reply

  10. I really really like how your pillow turned out—thank you for sharing! :o) and I really like the black and white background as well! So clever and so simple! Anddd thank you always for being wonderful and hosting this party! I can’t wait to be inspired!
    Jaime

    Reply

  13. Love the pillow! I will definitely have to make one sometime! Thank you for hosting! I think this is my first time participating, if not, then it’s been a long time. I’ve been away from blogging but trying to get back.
    Blessings,
    Sandra

    Reply

  23. Thanks for hosting such a great party! I love the large photo icons – it’s so much easier to look through everyone’s submission!

    Kristen
    Turning a House into a Home

    Reply

  28. i *love* this pillow! got some burlap the other day to make some pillows; you inspired me to embellish them 🙂 just stumbled upon your blog today and i love it! your newest follower!

    Reply

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