Ruffle & Beautiful Bow Pillows

I made these two pillows to put on my bench to go with my black and white chevron pillow for halloween, but I think they would make great throw pillows for almost any room, in different colors that is. I'm especially in love with the ruffle pillow, although I think I would move the ruffles over just an inch or two if I were to redo the pillow again. I always recommend using down inserts just because after your pillow gets sad and dumpy it only takes a few fluffs and they are back to as good as new. My pet peeve is sad lumpy pillows :-) Here's some other photos I took and a close up of how the ruffles turned out.

To create this look cut two 4 inch strips. To figure out the length for your strips take the length of whatever pillow you are ruffling and multiply it by 2.3. So for example if you are working with an 18 in piece of fabric you would cut your strips between 41 and 42 inches long. If you are using remnants you can fudge a little on this rule, but for the most part you want to multiply your length by 2.3.

To create your ruffles fold your fabric in half hot dog style and iron a crease into it. Then turn the edges under 1/4 of an inch once, then twice to create the hems, ironing in place.

Top stitch along the long edges about an 1/8 of an inch in from the edge. Using your longest stitch baste stitch along the center crease. Pull strings to create ruffles. Pin in place on your pillow cover. See here for instructions on how to cut and sew your pillow, the only difference is you are adding your ruffles.

To place your ruffles:
Mark or iron two crease lines 5/8 of an inch apart like railroad tracks. I placed the center fold of my first ruffle about 3 1/2 inches in from the far edge. If I were to do it again, I would probably scoot it over to about 5 1/2 inches in to create just a little bit more of a border. Stitch along the upper and lower edges of your ruffle to tack it down to the pillow cover at it's top and bottom. Pull or loosen strings to adjust the length of your ruffle.

Next pin the center of your ruffle along the first marked railroad track all the way down. Stitch in place along the center ruffled baste stitch. Iron the base of the ruffle pushing both layers toward the far edge so that you can see where you are placing your second ruffle. Take care not to iron creases into your ruffle, you are only just barely pushing the ruffle to the side at the base.  Place the second ruffle along the second railroad track layering the top and bottom of your second ruffle just on top of the first ruffle about 5/8 of an inch over. Follow the same steps for placing and sewing your first ruffle.

Now connect your pillow cover front to your pillow cover backs. See here.

To create the beautiful bow pillow follow the same instructions for cutting and sewing your pillow, only add the following:

Cut two strips of fabric 6 1/2 inches wide by 55 inches long. You may want to alter these dimensions for a different sized pillow. This pillow was 12 by 19. Fold your strips in half right sides together so that you now have two pieces 6 1/2 by 27 1/2. Stitch along both the long edges. Inside out and iron flat. Check for length and trim off any excess at the raw edges. These were just a bit long for me. I would probably trim a couple of inches off if I were to do it again, but I couldn't decide this time around. Top stitch along folded edges at the very bottoms of your strips. Next place your strips on either side of your pillow cover front centering them. Baste in place. Now sandwich all of your pieces together following these instructions here to connect your pillow cover, making sure not to trap your bow strips in unwanted areas of your seams.

Enjoy your beautiful new pillows!