The Bow Pillow Tutorial

The Bow Pillow which won the poll last week, was the only option that did not have a tutorial. I didn't remember this until after it won, and I went to look at the instructions to make it. After staring at the pictures online for a while, I decided it was best just to give a whirl and see what happens. It wasn't that much of disaster and I actually finished it in about 4 hours (experienced sewers could probably whip this out in an hour or two). 

So now I am going to attempt to write my first tutorial. 

Supplies: 

- 1 yard of 60" wide fabric (you could probably get away with 3/4 of a yard if you cut carefully, but I always like to have a little extra).

- Coordinating thread

- Pillow form (I used a 16"x16") or polyfill 
- Scissors, rulers, sewing machine, etc. 

Directions: 

1. First, my least favorite task. Cutting the fabric. 

Main part of the pillow- 2 pieces 16.5"x16.5" (or a half inch larger than your pillow form)

Top of the bow- 1 piece 10.5"x 20"

'Legs' of the bow- 1 piece 10"x 26" 

Center of the bow- 1 piece 3.5"x5"

I will not give any suggestions on how to correctly measure etc. because I have no clue, I just wing it (Any by wing it, I do measure at least 3 times before cutting). 

2. Sewing...my favorite part (and at times the most painful part). 

- First begin with the center of the bow. Fold the right sides of the fabric together, so it is in half the long way (see picture below). Sew the 5" edge closed and turn it right side out. Now iron it so that the seam you just made is in the center of the back. Finally top stitch down both of the 5" sides, don't worry about the other edges, they should still be open. 

Fold fabric in half and sew along the long edge.

When you iron it flat, place the seam in the center of the back.

Top stitch around the long edges, here are two samples. I did the one on  the left while I was talking on the phone, so I redid it and went with the one on the right. :) 

- Next sew the top of the bow, using the same process outlined above. 

- For the legs of the bow, i used a slightly different process. Fold the fabric in half (right sides together) the long way so you have a piece that is 5" wide by 26 inches long. Sew one of the 5" sides closed and the 26" side closed. Turn your fabric right side out. Hand stitch the last 5" side closed. Iron this piece flat (but don't put the seam in the back this time). Finally top stitch all the way around the edge of the bow 'legs' (I love this term, I made it up). 

Hand stitch the bow edge closed.

All of your bow pieces.

3. Next it is time to assemble. First take the front of your 16.5"x16.5" pillow fabric and place the 10" side of the bow fabric about 1/2" down from the front of your pillow (see the picture below). Make sure you are looking at the right side of both fabrics before you start sewing (I hate using the seam ripper). Sew both 10" sides to the front of the pillow. 

Pin the bow front 1/2" down from the top of the pillow (you need room to sew your pillow sides together)

Next pin your bow front tight so it will not interfere when sewing the pillow together. Pin the right sides of your pillow together and sew around the top, and 2 sides with about a 1/4" to 1/2" seam allowance. If you are using polyfill, you can sew half of the bottom of the pillow closed as well. If you are using a pillow form, leave the entire bottom of the pillow open. Turn the fabric the right way and insert your pillow. You can now sew the bottom closed however you would like. I ended up top stitching the bottom of my pillow closed because I absolutely HATE hand stitching but it is up to you. 

The front of the bow pinned tight so it doesn't get caught when sewing the rest of the pillow.

Sewing around 3 edges of the pillow

Next gather the bow front, and the add the bow legs, then place the bow middle around both of these pieces (see picture below). You are now going to hand sew the bow middle shut. You will want to sew this tightly closed so that the bow legs will not move easily. Rotate the seam to the back when you are done sewing.

Now you should have a lovely bow pillow. 

I know the instructions are somewhat hard to understand, hopefully the pictures help to make it clear. Let me know if you have questions.

A