How to Make a Romantic Pillow

A red taffeta rose pillow adds romance to a room.

A rose-covered pillow will look great in your bedroom or tossed on a sofa. The pillow and the sewn-on roses are made of red taffeta, which is sold by the yard in fabric stores. The pillow itself can be stitched together by hand or with the help of a sewing machine.

Things You'll Need

• 1-yard red taffeta fabric
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Straight pins
• Sewing needle
• Red thread
• 12-inch red zipper
• 12-inch square pillow form

Instructions

1. Cut two pieces of red taffeta fabric to measure 12 1/2 inches by 12 1/2 inches. Stack the taffeta squares, right sides of the fabric facing each other, and pin three edges. Pin and sew the squares together with a straight seam 1/4 inch from the edges of three sides of the squares. Turn the pillow to the right side.

2. Unzip the zipper and pin one edge to the unsewn edge of the pillow, after folding the edge under 1/4 inch. Hand stitch the zipper to the edge. Pin and sew the remaining zipper to the other pillow edge.

3. Cut 20 pieces of taffeta into strips that measure 3 inches wide and 36 inches long.

4. Thread the needle with 36 inches of thread. Hand sew a series of 1/2-inch-wide basting stitches 1/4 inch from one long edge of one strip. Pull the thread to gather the strip to half its original length.

5. Fold over the edge of the gathered strip 1/2 inch and hand stitch it in place, using the same needle and thread. Coil the edge of the gathered strip around the center fold, securing the coil every inch with small hand stitches near the basting stitch line. Sew the end of the strip to the back of the fabric rose. The finished taffeta rose has unfinished fabric edges, adding texture to the fabric flower.

6. Repeat the last two steps to make a total of 20 taffeta roses. Hand stitch the roses to the front side of the taffeta pillow in five rows of five roses. Insert the pillow form and zip the zipper to complete the romantic pillow.

References

• “Pillows for Beginners”; Creative Publishing International; 2003
• “Faux Chic”; Carol Endler Strebenz; 2004