Roses and Ruffles: Pillow Tutorial

I guess I am feeling a little French Country Cottage this week.  After my French Inspired Chair was finished I was thinking a little romantic pillow would go nicely with it.  Ruffles and roses  are always in order, especially around Valentines Day.  They just brings out the "girly" in you! 

I had actually been practicing my ruffles (more on that in a minute).  So I had this muslin ruffle on hand.  The technique I have been using is the "wad it under your sewing foot as you sew fairly slow" technique.  Very technical... look it up!  Works fine for me since I do not own a ruffler foot at the moment. 

Here is a tutorial on how I made these linen roses.  There are tons out there.  All pretty similar but this is how I did it.

1.  Cut a rectangle of your fabric.  Mine was about 9" by 11" and I ended up with about a 3" diameter rosette.

2. Round off the corners.

3.  Cut around snail shell style.  You can trace your line or just cut.  It doesn't need to be perfect!

4.  Tie a knot in your starting end which will make the center of your rosette.

5.  Tuck the tail end that is left from your knot under and start wrapping your fabric around in a circle twisting it as you go.  It will make sense once you start.

6.  When you get to the end you should have a rounded piece of fabric left.  Cover it in hot glue and stick your flower down.   At this point you can trim off any random "petals" and make sure its secure by adding a little more glue if needed.  I finished mine off with a little pearl glued to the center.

Sew your ruffle to your pillow front leaving about 1-2 inches free on either end.  Sew up your pillow making sure not to sew the ends of the ruffle into the seam.  When pillow is finished trim ruffle to the perfect size and glue or hand sew your flowers on.

So, the reason I'm practicing my ruffling....  Check out this slip covered ottoman on Dear Lillie!  I am obsessed and feel like I must make one ASAP!  Go check out her sight for beautiful photography and amazing projects.

Happy Day After Valentines Day.  I hope you are in a chocolate coma and full of love!

Kandi

Linking up here.