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Christmas Once a Month – Poinsettia Pillow

Welcome to “Christmas Once a Month” at The Crafty Quilter!

Christmas Once a Month at The Crafty Quilter

For January’s project, I have created a poinsettia pillow!

Poinsettia Pillow at The Crafty Quilter

This was so fun to make and I love working with felt!  Yes, the humble cousin to wool has its advantages.  It is less expensive, readily available, and easy to work with.

I got my inspiration for this pillow from Pottery Barn!  I love that catalog!

Poinsettia Decorative Pillow
Source: Pottery Barn

 

I think I’ll make another one in those colors and maybe I’ll use batting for the petals.  The natural look is always in style.  For now, I’m quite happy with red and cream.

Poinsettia Pillow at The Crafty Quilter

Here are the supplies you will need to make one 18″ pillow:

  • 2 3 (corrected) rectangles of craft felt (9″ x 12″)
  • 18″ square pillow form
  • 19″ square of background fabric for pillow front
  • 19″ square of fusible fleece or other thin batting
  • 19″ square of muslin or plain fabric for pillow front backing
  • 5/8 yard fabric for pillow back
  • 1/4 yard fabric for contrast pillow back (optional)
  • 16″ zipper (optional)
  • Button or jewelry for flower center
  • 1/2 yard of fusible interfacing (optional – used for pillow back)

Assembly Instructions:

Prepare pillow front. Press the fusible fleece to the 19″ square of background fabric. Line this with the 19″ muslin square.  I used 505 Spray Adhesive to sandwich this together. You could always use pins to baste into place.  Machine quilt these layers together.  I used a walking foot and stitched straight lines about 1 1/2″ apart that paralleled the lines of the fabric.

poinsettia background layers

Make the poinsettia leaves.  You can find the petal shapes for the poinsettia here:  Poinsettia leaves.  I made a plastic template out of these shapes and traced them onto felt.  You could also make a template out of freezer paper.  I had a hard time finding a pen that would “write” on the felt and be visible.  I finally used a soap stone with good results (even though the picture shows a Sharpie pen).  If you are using freezer paper, you could press the shape (carefully using a warm iron) onto the felt and cut around it.

poinsettia petals cutting tools

You will need 8 – 10 large petals and 6 small petals:

poinsettia petals all cut

Make the poinsettia flower.  Find the center of the pillow front and mark it with a pencil (this will be covered up eventually).  Lay out the large leaves about 1/2″ from the center point:

poinsettia petals placement

Using matching colored thread and a walking foot, stitch the petals into place.  I started stitching about 1″-2″ down from the tip of the petal and stitched all the way across to the opposite petal.

poinsettia pillow stitch petals 4 copy

Continue building the flower by adding petals and overlapping them:

poinsettia collage

Trim the pillow front to 18″ square.  Add a button or a jewelry pin to the center of the poinsettia.  I found lots of pendants to choose from in the Michael’s jewelry/bead section.

Poinsettia center collage

Make the pillow back.  You could make the back of the pillow with an overlapped envelope style which is very easy to do.  Jackie at Teal & Lime has a great tutorial for one that you should check out.  However, I have chosen to use this awesome tutorial from Amy Made That! to make the pillow back with a hidden zipper.  I also used it for my snowflake pillow.

In order to use Amy’s tutorial, you will need to change the cutting sizes to accommodate the larger size pillow:

  • Cut (1) 20″ square from main pillow back fabric
  • Cut (1) 19 1/2″ square from fusible interfacing
  • Cut (1) 4″ x 20″ rectangle from contrasting fabric
  • Cut (2) 1 1/4″ x 6″ rectangles from contrasting fabric
  • Zipper needs to be 16″ long

poinsettia back pieces

I made a mistake on my pillow back and had to get creative in order for it to be long enough.  So, I have an extra contrasting strip built into mine!

pionsettia back turned

Once you have the back made, you can layer the front and back together and stitch 1/4″ all the way around.  If using a zipper, make sure it’s open first.

poinsettia corners clipped

Trim corners and turn right side out.  Stuff with pillow and admire!

poinsettia pillow on bed 3 copy

Poinsettia Pillow at The Crafty Quilter

poinsettia pillow back

This whole pillow took me about two days to make with all of the trial and error going on.  Hopefully I’ve worked the bugs out for you and it should be much simpler.

Please note that this tutorial has not been officially tested! Please let me know if you see something “fishy” or if something doesn’t make sense.  My apologies in advance!

I had so much fun making this pillow, that it spawned another project using felt but on a much smaller scale.  Here’s a peek:

heart peek copy

I’ll be back soon with the details.

Thanks for joining me for Christmas on the 15th of January!

Julie Siggy-1

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23 Comments

  1. I love this pillow! I can’t wait to get the materials and start sewing. Your instructions look very detailed and easy to follow. Thank you so much!!!

  2. I love this pillow! I made a pair after visiting your site last year. I used green and cream plaid fabric with cream poinsettia leaves and green crystal button in the center. I received so many compliments that I’m making more and giving them as gifts this year. Thank you for the inspiration. They are lovely and so much nicer than the store bought variety.

  3. I’m a lot late to the party…but I LOVE this pillow. I am making all my Christmas décor this year with Poinsettias, and when I found your lovely pillow tutorial I knew THIS is going on my sofa! I’ve already started cutting the petal pieces and can barely wait to start stitching. I’ve also pinned all your mug rugs and another pillow. You are amazingly talented and I SEW appreciate your tutorials and sharing patterns. You rock! Blessings!!!!

  4. you have so many beautiful patterns with a wonderful tutorial on how to make them ,I will enjoy making them all thank you for your tutorial love your great idea,s

  5. Hi Julie. I wandered over to your blog and found you via CTTY. Oh my word, I LOVE your pillow. And, yes, I plan on making one!! It is just stunning!! Maybe because I adore poinsettias. Thank you for sharing the tutorial.

  6. I love the pillow that you have done, thanks for the tutorial. I like the fabric, the color combination. I hope you do not mind I pinned this project on my Pinterest board of for future reference.
    You did an amazing job, thank you!
    Marisa.

  7. That’s really lovely Julie, such an easy pattern, with a fantastic result. Thanks for sharing with us!
    I tried out your Christmas Mug Rug pattern today and am very pleased with the result 🙂

  8. I love the pillow and I love your website!! I will for sure be following your “Christmas Once a Month” It is such a great idea!!

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