Sewing simple pillows in the past, they usually require a specific fabric that does not allow the stuffing to exit through the fabric. Pillow panels work great, but a lot of regular cotton just doesn’t do the job. Wanting to create a floral pillow, I decide to create a quilted pillow using a 9-patch design. Any quilting patterns would work, but 9-patch is something that I learned when doing Civil War reenacting, except with smaller pieces and hand sewing. 9-patch pattern had a special place with my sewing journey.
I create three beautiful floral pillows with blue and red floral cotton from Pioneer Woman that will work great for extra pillows in the living room or the bedrooms.
Materials for a Quilted Floral Pillow
6 Pieces in a Fat Quarter Bundle
Thread
Quilting Batting
Pillow Stuffing
Tools to Sew a Floral Pillow
Iron
Ironing Board
Self-Healing Cutting Mat
Quilting Ruler
Rotary Cutter
Sewing Machine
Pins (Magnetic Holder)
Preparing the Fabric
Iron all 6 fat quarters. Place the right side down and place the iron on the wrong side. This way if there is any bit of rust from their iron or other dirt, it does not ruin the good side. If the fat quarters are not ironed, there is a much higher chance for the pieces to be not the same size.
With making a 9-patch floral pillow, I wanted to use as much of the fabric as possible. With making a 9-patch pillow, I divide each fat quarter into 9 pieces. The width is 18 inches, so divided by 3 is 6 inches. The length is about 21 inches. When divided by 3, it is 7 inches. Each square is 6” x 7”. Measure on the cutting mat, but use a rotary cutter with a quilting ruler to accurately cut each piece.
Pay close attention when cutting so that you don’t cut one piece too big and the other piece too small. Hmm, wonder who ended up doing that? If it happens once, there will still be enough to make two full-sized pillows and one smaller floral pillow.
Layout the fabric squares in the design you would like to see in your 9-patch floral pillow. The center will be the focal piece. I use the blue and what floral piece with red roses. The center edge pieces should be of a plainer pattern. The focal piece already has so much going on that to bring it out, some of the “wilder” pieces should not be placed next to it. I use the solid blue with the checkered red. In the corners, I place the “wilder” pieces with the smaller detailed floral designs. Here, they don’t touch the center piece besides in a corner. I mix match where I put them, placing the blue floral in the upper right and the lower left while placing the red and blue floral in the upper left and the lower right.
Sewing the Floral Patches
Take a row of three patches, keeping it in order of the design you are seeking. Fold over the one checkered patch on top of the focal patch. The right sides should be placed together. The wrong side of the focal patch will be showing.
Line up the pieces along their 7” edge and stitch ½”. A 5/8” stitch would work as well, but then replace all the stitches in this guide to 5/8”.
Unfold the pieces. Repeat the process with the second checkered piece.
Iron the seams with the right sides facing downwards and the wrong sides facing the iron.
Repeat the process with the other two rows of three patches. After all three are sewn together and ironed, take the center row and one outside row with the right sides together. Line up the seams. Begin sewing with a ½” stitch. While sewing, double check that the seams still line up. After sewing, double check that the seams do line up; if not, seam rip and try again. At this point, six patches are sewn together.
Repeat with the last column. Iron all the seams from the new stitches. Once this is complete, congratulations. You should be entirely happy at what you just accomplished! Even if at this stage you think you made some mistakes, it is okay.
I was concerned that some of patches after sewing were going to end up uneven once I finished the pillow. With sewing dresses or clothing, only a few areas need to be lined up exactly. With anything quilting, the standard is to line it up perfectly. That is quite intimidating.
The way I see it, though, is that if I bought these pillows at a store, they may have mistakes too that nobody notices unless they would inspect the pillow meticulously as if they are a fair judge. If I make a mistakes, I can redo it if it is major, or I can let it go and learn to not do it again.
Sewing the Batting for the Pillow
I used a polyester batting from Walmart. It comes in a roll and for as much as one gets, it is not too expensive either. I have seen videos with higher quality batting, and that is fine too!
Whoops. I originally made a mistake with cutting the batting. I cut it the exact size of the pillow piece. It still worked. But it is best to leave an inch or two overhang. The overhang will be cut after it is all sewed.
Place the batting on the cutting mat first. Then with the right sides facing up, place the pillow. Pin near the seams along the interior and exterior of the pillow. Do not place pins in the center of any of the squares. This is where will be stitching together the fabric with the batting in diagonal lines. Sewing a pin could lead to breaking a needle.
Another mistake I made with sewing the first pillow was I did not take into consideration where the pillow would be folded and the stitches would not end in a corner. I finished the whole step before realizing what I did. I did not want to seam rip because all those holes made from the needle without thread would be showing. For the first pillow, I kept it as it was and fixed it for the next pillow.
How did I fix it though? This may seem like a waste of thread, but it will give you the markings that you need. Sew ½” stitch around the whole fabric piece. Whenever stitching at the diagonal, start where the seam of the fabric intersects with that ½” stich. When sewing, aim towards where the seams meet each other on the inside pieces. Then when seeking to end the diagonal stitches, aim towards where the seam intersects the ½” stitch. The diagonal stitch will travel from one corner to another to end at another corner on the exterior.
Last step is to trim off any excess batting. Remove the pins. Place the piece on a cutting mat. Use a quilting ruler and a rotary cutter to evenly and easily cut off the excess batting. The piece is now ready for the next steps.
Sewing the Front & Back of the Floral Pillow
We have successfully sewn the front piece of our pillow with the batting as well. Now, we need a second for the back piece of the pillow. Repeat preparing the fabric, sewing the patches, and sewing the batting.
When you have the front and back pieces of the pillow sewn, place the right sides together and line them up. Start with lining up the seams. When sewing, use a ½” stitch. Sew the top, then the sides. On the bottom, sew the first patch in a corner, then stop once sewing over the seam by ½”. It is important to make sure you sew the seam from the inside so that it does stay lined up on the bottom. Then sew the other corner in the same manner.
This will leave an opening of about six inches to have room to stuff the pillow.
Stuffing the Pillow
Unfold the pillow so that the right sides are facing outwards. Focus on pushing out the corners to create a nice corner.
The stuffing is a polyester blend. It can be purchased at Walmart or any craft store.
Start by stuffing the corners. Then stuff along the edges in between the stuffed corners. Lastly, fill in the center.
The pillows should be stuffed well, but it should not be so full that the sewing machine is not able to finish sewing the opening.
Finishing the Last Stitches
This last step is the hardest part of sewing the hole in the pillow. It can be done by hand, but it can take two seconds on a sewing machine. With the machine method, it is a hard task to keep the pillow shut when the pillow itself is stuffed so full. One can use pins if they need to.
Line up the fabric together, leaving the fraying side inside the pillow. Stitch over the edge, starting a piece that was sewn on the inside. It does not need to be ½”. A quarter inch would be fine. As long as the stitch keeps it shut, you are good to go.
Final Reflections
I found this project rather enjoyable. Sewing dresses and clothing take a lot of time and stress with the fitting, but sewing straight lines is easy. I’ve thought about selling these at craft shows or the market, but it took four sewing sessions, which range from an hour to two hours, $7 worth of fabric, the cost of batting and stuffing, and thread. When adding up all the time and costs, it didn’t seem feasible to make and sell a set of pillows for as much as they actually are worth.
I do it for enjoyment, for relaxation, for my home. And that’s good to create something to make one’s home beautiful as well as to beautify our souls with relaxing projects.
If I made another set of pillows, my major change would be to only use two selections of fabric. A focal fabric would be for the center patch and the four corners, while the supporting fabric would be the four exterior middle patches. I also think it would look nice to have a solid back.
At some point, I can see myself ditching the quick machine stitches to seal up the pillow and replace it with a binding border. For now, I’m using the skills my grandmother taught me with sealing up pillows.
