A Personalized Birthday Present for Mom

Life has gotten even busier and crazier than normal, so I haven't had time to blog lately. I have several things to show from the last few weeks in my upcoming posts. I wanted to start with the pillow I made my mom for her birthday because I was super happy with the final product. She also seemed to love it!


I had an idea of what I wanted and looked all over the web for a pattern, but couldn't find one to match my needs. I decided to make my own, so I made graph paper on Excel and printed it. I then used the graph paper to design the look of the pillow and proportion out each fabric piece before actually cutting any fabric. This worked great.

I used seven different upholstery fabric that each had a different design and texture. The picture just doesn't do the fabrics justice, the colors are actually much deeper and richer. The name in the middle is my mom and step-dad's last name and is embroidered in dark brown.

The back is the same velvety sage fabric as the center of the front. I made it as a pillow cover so it could be cleaned if needed. I even made the pillow inside it myself.

Here is the front before it was sewn together. Excuse the horrible picture. Once it was time to sew the piece, I realized I had no idea how to sew this kind of piecing together. (Each piece is sewn to three others, so they have to kinda have to be built on each other. I have no idea how to explain this well.) After a few seem ripping episodes, I figured it out. I did the embroidery first so I could get the correct placement of the name easier. The paper pieces around the edges are part of my pattern.


Linked up at @ mommaskindacrafty.blogspot.com