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Things that are six sided: snow crystals, the cells of a honeycomb, the Tam Tam (a six-sided matzo cracker) and ... this delightful Citrus Holiday pillow. Completely proving 1) not all pillows need to be square, and 2) you need to get a magnifying glass or microscope to make sure I'm telling the truth about the snow crystals and honeycombs.
You'll use several techniques from other Sew4Home tutorials to create this project, including making tassels and covered buttons.
Our Citrus Holiday designs were made using Heather Bailey's delightful Pop Garden & Bijoux Collection. To learn more about how we created this non-traditional holiday palette, read our article: Citrus Holiday: A Lighthearted Living Room.
Sewing Tools You Need
Fabric and Other Supplies
We choose just two coordinating fabrics for our pillow. However, the pillow is made from twelve individual triangle pieces, six for the top and six for the bottom, so you could use scrap fabric cuts and create a kaleidoscope of up to twelve different fabrics.
- Fabric for first 6 of 12 triangle pillow panels: ½ yard of 45" wide fabric: we used Heather Bailey's Pop Garden & Bijoux Swirly Buds in Tangerine
- Fabric for second 6 of 12 triangle pillow panels: ½ yard of 45" wide fabric: we used Heather Bailey's Pop Garden & Bijoux Paisley in Lime
- Scrap fabric for covering two center buttons: we used Heather Bailey's Pop Garden & Bijoux Paisley in Lime
- Button covering kit (1" - 1½") to complete two buttons
- All purpose thread
- Button or carpet thread
- Large bag of Polyfil to stuff pillow
- Six large tassels in a coordinating color: we made our own out of orange embroidery floss
- See-through ruler
- Fabric pencil
- Iron and ironing board
- Hand sewing needle
- 4 - 6" doll maker's or upholstery needle
- Straight pins
- Scissor or rotary cutter and mat
Getting Started
- Download and print out pattern for triangle piece.
- Placing pattern on the fold of your first fabric (Swirly Buds in Tangerine in our sample), cut six pieces.
- Placing pattern on the fold of your second fabric (Paisley in Lime in our sample), cut six pieces.
- If you've decided to make your own tassels, make six now. For easy step-by-step instructions, see our tutorial: How to Make a Tassel.
- Make two covered buttons per pillow, using a Cover Button Kit and following manufacturer's directions. If you would like to pad you buttons, place a small piece of polyfil or quilt batting on top of the fabric before placing into the plastic form. For more information on covered buttons, we have two tutorials: Button Kit Covered Buttons and DIY Covered Buttons (No Kit Required).
At Your Sewing Machine
- Take your first two triangle pieces and pin right sides together along one long edge. Stitch, using a ½” seam allowance.
- Continue stitching triangles in this manner until you complete a hexagon (that’s six triangles for those of you who, like me, dozed a little during high school geometry). You can alternate fabric prints as shown in our picture or create your own pattern.
- Press all six seams open as you go so your hexagon front/top will lay flat.
- Repeat steps 1-3 to form the hexagon for the back/bottom.
- With right sides together, pin the front hexagon to the back hexagon. Use a ½” seam allowance to stitch around the outer edge, leaving an unstitched opening of 5” - 6”. You’ll use this opening to turn the pillow right side out and to stuff in the filler.
- After stitching, clip the seam allowance on all six points so you’ll get a nice, sharp point when turned right side out. Remember, be careful to NOT clip through your stitching.
- Turn the pillow right side out through the 5” x 6” opening.
- Stuff the pillow with polyester fiber fill to an adequate thickness. We like to use a lot of stuffing because it makes the pillow look much more professional.
- Tuck in the seam allowance at the 5” - 6” opening and slip stitch closed.
- Using a long needle (either a 4” - 6” doll maker’s needle or a 4” - 6” upholstery needle) threaded with button or carpet thread, sew a few stitches through the center of the pillow. Pull these stitches very tight and knot off with several knots. This will pull the center of the pillow in and allow your covered buttons to sink into the center.
- Using a smaller hand sewing needle, hand stitch a covered button to the center of each side of the pillow.
- Hand stitch a tassel to each point of the pillow.
Hints and Tips
We recommend a standard Polyfil fo the stuffing of the pillow, which worked just great. However, there are a lot of fillers to choose from. Take a look at our this tutorial to learn more: Understanding Filler Materials: Polyfil, Pellets, Microbeads, Beanbag Filler, Foam & More.
Contributors
Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation: Dianne LeBlanc
Other machines suitable for this project include the Bernina aurora 450 and the Pfaff expression 2.0.
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