DIY: Cactus Pillow
8:18 AM
On my bed
While browsing Pinterest (as always,) I saw the cutest cactus pillow! So I starting thinking... I love cacti... I love pillows... why not buy it? Well, unfortunately... it was sold out! However, this just pushed me to design and sew my own! Here's the steps below.
Used some green corduroy from my fabric hoard
#1. Fabric Selection
I have had this piece of 3 yd green corduroy for over a year now, just waiting for the right project to use it. Honestly I mostly bought it in the first place just because I love corduroy! Bought from JoAnn Fabric. Its a good idea to use a fabric with a bit more structure to it.
Simple paper base/design
#2. Design the Base
First I drafted a base design for my pillow and I kept it pretty simple. Just the base, two arms, and then the middle/side part (a long strip, ~2.5" wide). Next I cut out 2x of each piece.
The arms! They look cute now, but a real pain to sew if you aren't careful
#3. Cut out the pieces
Pin the paper pieces to your fabric and cut them out (be mindful of inside vs outside of fabric!) I am not a very experienced sewer, but I have sewed projects like dresses and skirts over the years. In a past post, I sewed a shirt! So this was a bit of a challenge, but a fun one!
I used white thread to sew on all of the details, just using my machine. No hand embroidering!
#4. Pick your threads
#4. Pick your threads
Pick a contrasting color to your fabric. I chose white so it resembles the needles and because it really shows up against the green. Thread your machine. I decided to machine sew and I don't regret it at all. Its a more finished look, and I really had fun playing with the sewing machine.
The most important thing I found was to test before you sew
#5. Test Sew(!!!)
Before I start sewing, I always test my gauge on a scrap piece of the same fabric I'm using. Doing this would help me correct it, as well as give me an idea of how the thread would show up on the fabric.
First stripe on the body!
#6. Seeing Stripes
To make the stripes show up more, I sewed three straight lines in a row. Using the machine's different needle placements helped a great deal, and it was pretty cool to figure that out! My lines were nowhere near straight but its a little quirky and cute.
Five stripes total for the body
While it took me a while to finish just ONE side of the body, it was worth it. I really like the look of it, and decided to not put the X's on. Instead I used....
Fringe!
#7. Fringe
FRINGE! That's right. Fringe. I have never used fringe for a project before, so it was definitely a learning experience. I bought 3 yds thinking that would be enough for my pillow, but it turned out that it could only really cover one side. I sewed the fringe in between the front and the middle strip. While it was reeeeally annoying at first, the effect was really sweet and emulates the needles.
Final Product! Woohoo!
So thats it! Well, to finish you gotta sew the rest of it all together (front + middle strip + back,) but then its done. I really love my pillow and have received tons of compliments on it. Its a perfect decorative pillow to add a quirky statement to the bedroom or where ever it is put!
Thanks for reading!
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