Wonderful pillows can be used as toys

A modern house reflects the creativity, taste and character of the owners, is the embodiment of fantasy, creative thought. You can revive the interior of the nursery in a budget way - decorate the room with bright and cheerful textile accessories.

A scattering of animal pillows on a crib, sofa or sofa will bring rainbow colors, create the right mood, which is extremely important for the development of the crumbs. To make it easier for beginners to master the process of how to sew a baby pillow with their own hands, you just need to look at the world through the eyes of a child.

A beautiful figured children's pillow is not only a striking attribute of the design of a children's island, but also a very functional thing. There are many different products in textile stores, but a hand-sewn pillow is always an exclusive and original accessory. Experienced needlewomen are in constant search of creative ideas, new forms and designs.

Baby pillows

Craftswomen are happy to share their experience with beginners, making it easier for them with practical advice:

• We pay attention to the choice of fabric. What is appropriate for decorating a living room may not be suitable for a nursery. In such a room, it is important to maintain a high level of environmental friendliness and safety. Choose hypoallergenic fabrics, natural materials. Fantasy and creativity are the engine of progress. As a basis, you can use old cotton T-shirts or knitted sweaters. The surface of such a budget decorative pillow for a nursery is pleasant to the touch, does not “bite” like wool or mohair.

Choosing a fabric

• Color spectrum. Harmony is the main factor when choosing the color of pillows for a nursery. In a classic design, they can echo the color of the curtains, sofa upholstery or wallpaper pattern in the room. You can play with contrast, create new and interesting color combinations.

When choosing a color, there is only one rule: the child's eyes should not get tired. Avoid flashy or neon shades. Soft undertones and warm colors are able to correct children's development, create the right mood.

• Decoration. Creative craftswomen use any details as decoration: the remnants of fabric, patches with prints, embroidery or knitting elements, ribbons and lace. In the design, you should not use large buttons, pointed beads, protruding details.

Pillow decor

• Filler. Sewing decorative pillows with your own hands is not difficult, but you need to think in advance about how to fill it. The material must meet all safety requirements, have hypoallergenic properties. A medium-firm pillow is the best option, since soft stuffing will lose its shape over time. Materials such as foam rubber, sintepuh, synthetic winterizer are safe for the child.

Pillow fillers

The developmental pillow is currently very popular. To fill it, you can use silicone balls, they contribute to the development of children's motor skills, easily changing the shape of the product.

Sewing Ideas

When modeling textiles for children, you need to forget all the classic rules. In the world of children's dreams and fun, there is no place for boredom or dullness.

Beautiful baby pillows

A child, looking at a pillow, should have only optimistic and pleasant associations, for example, with his favorite cartoon character, kind animals, bright sun or warm summer.

Interesting idea for pillows in the form of puzzles

We offer several simple workshops, thanks to which you can create an exclusive textile masterpiece in just one evening.

Soft Bunny

With a beautiful soft pillow in the form of a bunny, the baby will immediately make friends and sleep on it will be very comfortable. For work, you will need a ready-made pattern, fabric such as velsoft or microfleece, felt for decorating the face, lace or ribbon, soft filler and tailor's chalk (a bar of soap).

Bunny pillows

The algorithm is simple:

• We transfer the details of the pattern from paper to fabric. We circle each with chalk and carefully cut it out. You should get two blanks for each ear and bunny head.
• We sew the details, starting with the ears, leaving a small hole for the filler.
• We put the ears stuffed with padding polyester inside the head, chop off with pins, baste and sew, leaving a hole at the bottom.
• We turn the head on the front side, fill it with padding polyester and sew up the hole with a hidden seam.
• Let's start creating a cute bunny face. Separate parts of the muzzle are cut out of thin felt, pinned with pins so that they do not move out during work, and then sew on with a blind seam. You can use fabric glue.
• We make a large bow from the ribbon, sew it to the hare's ear to give it an elegant look.

Bunny pillow

A beautiful pillow in the form of a good bunny is ready. You can experiment with the color, fabric and design of the muzzle of the animal, creating a whole family of bunnies.

Pillow cat

Recently, pillow toys have become very popular. Cute "purrs" not only decorate the interior of the nursery, but also become participants in children's games.

Soft pillow cat for baby

To sew a pillow in the form of a cat, you will need a pattern. You can take a ready-made template or draw it according to your own sketch. To work, you will need a fleece fabric of two colors, strong threads to match, soft stuffing, felt for the muzzle.

Let's start sewing a cat:

• Prepare a pattern on paper. You can use ready-made templates or draw your own. We transfer the templates to the fabric and cut out the details.
• We sew the elements, starting with the ears of the cat. Light-colored fleece for the muzzle, sewn into the head. The front side of the pillow looks like squares sewn into each other.
• We sew the ears on top, we sew all sides on the typewriter, leaving a small hole at the bottom.
• We fill the product with sintepuh, sintepon or silicone balls, sew up the hole with a hidden seam.
• We draw a muzzle. You can use paints or waterproof felt-tip pens. When drawing the muzzles of animal pillows for a child's room, try to make them as optimistic and cheerful as possible. Gloomy and not funny animals can simply scare a small child.

Sewing children's pillows with your own hands requires not only creative inspiration, but also perseverance. In just one evening, you can sew an original toy as a gift for your daughter or son. When decorating a product for little fidgets, you should securely fasten the parts in order to prolong the life of a soft animal.

Cat - pillow

Orthopedic pillow

If you like to travel with the whole family, then an original and useful accessory in the form of a comfortable orthopedic pillow will be a welcome gift for a child.

Orthopedic pillows for the whole family

As a rule, all orthopedic pillows are shaped like the letter "C". For stuffing, a filler of medium hardness is used to keep the shape of the product.

To make the pillow look boring, you can play with the image using animal motifs or your favorite cartoon characters. To sew a product, you do not need to look for complex patterns. We draw a large letter C on paper, transfer the pattern to a soft cloth folded in half face down. We cut out the blanks, sew them together, stuff them with filler and sew up the hole with a blind seam. The fun begins - choosing an idea for decorating. To make the child smile looking at the pillow, you can give it the look of a mischievous monkey by shaping the muzzle, sewing on a long tail and paws. A pillow in the form of a curled up cat will give the baby vivid dreams, giving the opportunity to gain strength during the rest for new achievements.

Orthopedic pillow

Love and care can manifest itself in different ways. Creativity is the best way to talk about your feelings, about what fills your heart. A pillow sewn by mother's gentle hands will give the baby joy, a sense of security and a sunny mood.

Pillow toys will undoubtedly transform your interior, making it more joyful and bright. When creating a do-it-yourself pillow-toy, pay special attention to choosing an idea. Textiles generally play an important role in creating a certain homely atmosphere. And with the help of decorative pillows, you can emphasize a certain mood that reigns in the house.

To realize, you need only a little creativity, creativity and imagination.

Soft pillows, which can be located in all rooms, can have a completely unexpected appearance. In addition to boring and monotonous square and round products, you can quite unexpectedly sew a new and intricate thing.

She will play the role of not only textiles, but also soft toys for the smallest in the house. Such products provide an element of the game, while you can easily take them not only with you to bed, but also play them on the floor.

DIY pillow toys - looking for inspiration

Specialty stores and children's supermarkets have long offered a wide range of pillows in a playful format. Most often, they are presented in the form of large soft toys with 4 legs, which can be fixed with Velcro, thus creating a perfect square shape.

With such creative pillows, it is much easier and easier for a child to put them to bed in a playful way, or simply decorate their bed or sofa in the living room with them. A large number of such pillows in the same style help to create a certain comfort, helping to comfortably sit and enjoy your vacation.

However, toy pillows can also be made independently with your own hands, just armed with the necessary materials, patterns and patience. Most often they are made in the form of soft animal toys, which have a wide body-base with soft and pleasant stuffing.

The main advantage of such products is that you can spend the remnants of fabric and flaps on them, harmoniously and correctly stitching them into a single composition. With the help of these pillows, the child can learn colors, as well as develop the sensitivity and motor skills of their hands, playing with bows, ribbons, buttons or other decorative elements on it.

DIY pillows for children may also be in the form of letters. This is quite a fashionable and widespread trend among young parents lately. The letters of the name at first simply decorate the bed of the crumbs, and in the future they serve as toys and pillows for him while playing on the floor. They can have different heights and thicknesses of the stuffing. The main thing is to arrange them correctly and harmoniously, combining them with a common fabric element or other accessory.

Another type of modern and fun toy pillows is draft rollers. Most often they are performed in the form of funny animals on a twine or animals with a long body. Such colorful rollers will not only protect you from blowing on the windowsill, near the door or balcony block.

Important! If the pillow is used purely for sleeping, then it is worth avoiding the use of hard materials - buttons, dense fabric, plastic bets. They can injure the skin while resting.

A separate place is occupied by pillows for travel in transport. They often resemble standard products for adults, only they are made in the form of the letter “C”, where the shape is repeated by the animal twisted into a ball or its long and fluffy tail.

Such pillows will help little travelers with pleasure to gain strength at any time of the day, in an unusual position of the body.

Do-it-yourself pillow toys - how to choose the right fabric for sewing?

When embodying interesting ideas for do-it-yourself pillow toys, it is important to understand what materials you should work with. The durability and strength of the finished product depends on the tooling and quality of the fabric used.

As for the color scheme, any solution and variety can reign here. The main thing is to initially decide for yourself what functions the pillow will perform.

If it decorates a room or upholstered furniture, then it must be combined with the general tones of the interior. If this is just a funny and bright children's toy, then it can have the most unexpected incarnation.

Quite often, the funniest and cutest DIY pillow toy ideas come from plain old scraps of fabric.

They can remain from old sewing crafts, cuttings, worn out, but bright things. They can be cheaply and angrily turned into a new funny thing.

As for the filler, here it is necessary to foresee the functionality and direct purpose of the finished product.

If you want to fill it with down or feathers, then it will not hold the desired shape that you want to give.

To diy pillow toy ideas were brought to life strictly according to the plan, then they should be stuffed with silicone, thick cotton cloth, or foam rubber.

If the design of the finished pillow toy can allow a cover or removable elements, then it is better to think about it in advance and calculate it when sewing.

This will help to clean this thing more often from dirt and dust, keeping its original appearance as long as possible.

Most often, pillowcases or covers are made from dense and high-quality fabric - fleece, jeans, drape or linen, which, with frequent washing, will not lose their shape and original appearance.

If you want to create a "cool" pillow for hot summer nights, then take silk fabrics as a basis.

They will keep you feeling cool for a very long time. Brocade products for children should not be made. They are better suited for the usual decoration of furniture in certain classic interiors.

Using pillow fillers

In addition to using standard fillers (feathers, down, foam rubber, etc.), you also need to know certain rules and secrets of filling a toy pillow with your own hands.

The main requirements and criteria for the work performed look something like this:

• First of all, the material used for stuffing the product must have hypoallergenic properties. This will avoid unnecessary problems and will not expose the health of the household;
• The filling should have a medium degree of rigidity. Too hard base will not be comfortable and orthopedic. Soft stuffing - over time, it will completely lose the shape of the sewn thing;
• The ideal filler should not lose its original shape and volume even after washing or dry cleaning;
• The interior should be easy to clean a large number of times.

These criteria can be met by polyester materials of various processing - synthetic winterizer, foam rubber or synthetic winterizer.

Very often, many needlewomen, making a pillow for the house with their own hands, make one serious mistake - they use cotton wool for stuffing. However, products with such a "stuffing" will last a very short time, in particular, if they play the role of a child's toy. Over time, cotton wool begins to roll and stray into one specific corner. The product with it will lose its shape, and become dense and unpleasant to the touch.

A little less often, instead of stuffing, old fabric patches or fur are used, but they also do not tend to keep the shape of the pad for a very long time with frequent use. An alternative would be silicone balls, which have different sizes and diameters. They contribute to the development of motor skills in children and quite easily give the product the desired shape.

Decor Pillow Ideas

It is difficult to imagine a pillow-toy for children that is monophonic and inexpressive. Needlewomen often try to give them brightness and similarity with different cartoon characters or animals.

To do this, quite different materials and tools can be used, the main thing is to decide on the direct purpose of the product.

The basis for the decor can be bows, colorful ribbons, laces, buttons, zippers, lace, beads or beads. It is better to deprive products for very young children of small accessories in order to protect the baby from swallowing small particles.

Yes, and for older kids, it is best to fix all the additional elements well - sew or glue to prolong the life of a funny animal. From these auxiliary things, you can make facial features, clothes, bows, flowers and other cute applications.

What do you need for tailoring?

Do not worry if you do not have the necessary experience in sewing or a wide range of tools. You can sew a funny toy pillow quite quickly and easily with your own hands, even if there is no special sewing equipment at hand.

This is especially easy to do if you sew a toy from different pieces of fabric. The main thing at the same time is to iron all the seams with an iron and carefully sew everything with dense threads. Separately, the seams can be decorated and reinforced with tape. It remains only to fill the product with filler and do the design of the appearance.

If the finished pillow should have a completely simple shape - a long roller, a square or a rectangle with the paws of an animal sewn separately, then it is quite appropriate to use a zipper or buttons for fixation.

These things of regular geometric shapes provide only the correct stuffing, which should have its own clear radius and length. More complex pillow toys should be sewn according to certain sketches or tips.

Ideas for creativity can be taken from specialized literature, magazines for needlewomen, or simply on the Internet. To do this, there are a huge number of sites and forums where you will be offered schemes and patterns for every taste.

Decorating your home or giving your child a real soft friend made by hand is very easy and simple. Create and embody your imagination in creativity and needlework. This will give you a lot of positive emotions and a great mood!

6 182 225

Beautiful decorative pillows can revive even the most restrained interior. They bring an atmosphere of comfort, home warmth and allow you to relax. To decorate your home with them, it is not necessary to spend a lot of money, because you can create these cute decor elements yourself.

We have selected themed workshops for you, from which you will learn how to sew the pillow of your dreams. Thanks to step-by-step photographs and a detailed description, even a beginner can cope with this.

Volumetric heart of roses

A handmade pillow can be a wonderful gift. Armed with fantasy and a thread with a needle, it can even be turned into a unique Valentine. We offer you a step-by-step master class for making an unusual pillow with a voluminous heart.

For work you will need:

• finished pillow of the desired size;
• fabric for roses, which does not require overcasting;
• scissors;
• needle with thread.

Cut out circles with a diameter of about 8 cm from the fabric, they may be slightly crooked and slightly different in size. This will only add volume and realism to the flowers.

Take a circle of fabric by the middle, gather it up, forming folds as in the photo. Fix the workpiece in the desired position with a couple of stitches.

Sew another circle of fabric on the bottom, forming a voluminous bud.

Continue sewing the circles onto the rosette until you have the size you want.

Prepare the rest of the roses in the same way. Their number depends on the size of the flower heart.

Sew the flowers to the pillow starting from the outline of the heart.

Arrange the blanks close to each other so that there are no gaps between them. A magnificent heart is ready to conquer and win hearts.

Such a designer pillow will decorate the room of a capricious fashionista or will become a highlight of your living room. And she will cheer you up just by looking at her.

fluffy pillow

The original pillow with a fringe will successfully fit into any interior. Pleasant to the touch fleece will make it a favorite thing not only in the children's room.

For work you will need:

• fleece for the base of the pillow and fringe;
• filler;
• scissors;
• threads;
• pins;
• sewing machine.

From the fleece, cut two squares 40 by 40 cm.

For fringe, it is better to choose a fabric several colors of the same range- get a stylish transition between them. In our case, 10 strips of 37 * 10 cm in three shades of brown are used.

Fold each strip in half and cut the fringe.

Sew the first strip to the base of the pillow, stepping back 1 cm from the edges. This is the result you should get.

Next, fold the fringe to one side.

Sew next to the second strip at a distance of about 1.5 cm from the first.

Continue sewing on the fringe in the same way. Alternate dark stripes with light stripes in several rows, achieving a beautiful and smooth transition of colors.

Put a second square on top of the fringed blank and pin it around the edges with pins. Sew the pillow around the perimeter, leaving a small opening for stuffing.

Turn pillow inside out and stuff with filling. It is better to use a synthetic winterizer or holofiber. Natural materials such as cotton wool and fluff can clump over time and the product will lose its neat appearance.

Sew up the opening with a blind stitch.

It turns out a very beautiful sofa cushion, which will create an atmosphere of warmth and comfort in your home.

Pillow "Butterfly Wings"

We present you a detailed photo lesson on decorating an interior pillow. Even if sewing is not your forte, you can easily master it: you will need a ready-made pillow for work. Following the step-by-step instructions, you will turn an ordinary pillowcase into a masterpiece of art design.

Pillow-toy "Owl"

A funny and bright owl is a win-win gift option for both an adult and a child. When such a cute bird settles in your baby's bedroom, he will not only sleep with her, but also play with her.

For work you will need:

• cotton in two colors;
• felt for eyes and beak;
• black buttons or beads for pupils;
• bow ribbon;
• crayon;
• threads;
• needle and pins for sewing;
• scissors;
• lace;
• filler.

Transfer the owl pattern to paper in the desired size.

Attach the template to the fabric and cut out the necessary details, make an allowance of 1 centimeter for the body and wings.

To decorate the toy, lace, bows and a wooden flower button are used. If you are using a full-size pattern, then cut out an 8 * 16 cm rectangle and a 4.5 cm square for the bow, or change the size of these parts in proportion to the owl.

Sew on the beak and lace with a zigzag stitch. Lace is placed in the center of the body, between the wings.

Sew wings and eyes with the same seam. Attach the black pupil buttons by hand.

Fold the body parts of the owl right side inward, secure with pins and sew. Leave a hole at the bottom between the wings for further manipulations.

Turn the toy inside out, iron it and stuff it with stuffing. If you used ordinary scissors to cut out the details, make neat notches near the ears and in all convex places before turning out so that the fabric does not shrink.

Sew up the opening with a blind stitch.

You can do decor. Fold the square for the bow into a strip and iron it.

Fold the rectangle in half right side inward and sew, leaving a 1 cm allowance.

Turn it inside out, gather in the middle and sew on the prepared strip, forming a bow. Sew it on the owl's ear.

Tie a bow from a small piece of ribbon, sew it and a wooden button to the body of the toy.

Such a cute owl will reliably guard your sleep.

Another idea for implementation is to sew a solid owl according to this pattern. It is enough just to show imagination and choose the appropriate color scheme and design for the toy.

Pillow with application "Cat in love"

An elegant pillow with a cool application is a wonderful gift for any occasion. With its help, you can confess your feelings or just cheer up your loved one.

For work you will need:

• thick white pillowcase 35*35cm;
• shreds of cotton 4 colors;
• white interlining;
• iron;
• 3 green beads for the eyes;
• threads to match the fabric;
• decorative braid.

Cut out two rectangles 17*13cm- clouds around the cat and the fish. In our case, they are white with orange polka dots. You can choose the color of your choice.

The cat's body is a rectangle 16*12cm, orange with small white polka dots.

Cut a rectangle out of white fabric 20*11 cm. It will make the eyes and thoughts of a cat.

Cut out the rectangle 10*5cm from green fabric for the body of the fish.

Fold the interlining adhesive side with the wrong side of the rectangles and iron them so that they stick together. So it will be easier to cut small parts and they will not crumble.

Cut out blanks for the appliqué. You can use cardboard templates or immediately cut out the details from the fabric.

Arrange the elements on the pillowcase and achieve the desired picture. Mark the ground line with decorative tape. Choose the expression of the cat's loving eyes.

When you decide on the location of all the elements of the application, you can proceed to the last step. It remains to sew them to the pillowcase.

Sew with a small white zigzag the outline of a white cloud to a polka dot cloud.

Sew the contour of the fish to the prepared two-layer cloud with a green zigzag. Embroider the fish's fins and outline of the head. Attach an eye bead.

Sew the details of the cat with a small zigzag thread to match the fabric. Lastly, attach the eyes and embroider his mustache.

Embroidered paws will give the animal even more charm. You can add small flowers to the application to make the composition more expressive.

The finished pillow will definitely take the crown place on the sofa in the living room and will become the star of your interior.

Pillow-spyushka "Sleeping Kitten"

Want even more cats? We offer you an interesting idea for creativity: sew a charming kitten, which, with its very appearance, evokes drowsiness and peace.

For work you will need:

• cotton fabric 3 colors;
• fleece;
• interlining;
• scissors;
• iron;
• filler;
• chalk or a special marker for fabric;
• floss threads;
• 2 buttons;
• pins;
• pattern.

First of all, print on paper or manually redraw the kitten pattern. Cut out all elements.

Attach the patterns of the torso to the fabric, circle and cut it with an allowance of 1 cm. Place the part on the wrong side on the adhesive side of the interlining, secure with pins and cut it out. Prepare the second part of the fleece body in the same way.

Cut out the paws, ears and tail of the kitten.

Remove the pins and iron the two-layer parts of the body with an iron so that the cotton sticks to the interlining.

Fold the parts of the ears, paws and tail in pairs right side in and sew them on the machine, leaving holes for eversion. Cut the stitched blanks with curly scissors or make the notches normal.

Turn the parts inside out and iron them, stuff with filler. Sew the holes in a zigzag pattern. Attach the resulting parts with pins to the front side of the front of the cat. Sew them to the body of the kitten in a zigzag.

Draw the cat's face with chalk.

Put the fleece part (back) on top and fix it with pins. Sew the blanks, leaving a small opening at the bottom for eversion. Trim the seam allowances with curly scissors or cut the notches normally.

Turn the piece right side out and iron it. Stuff the toy with filler and sew up the opening left earlier with a blind seam.

Sew upper legs and buttons to the body for decoration.

Embroider the nose and closed eyes with floss threads.

The soft splyushka cat is looking for its loving owner. Everyone will be happy with such a pet. He will be happy to settle both in the baby's crib and in the cozy living room.

Do you feel the strength and desire to create, but still consider yourself a beginner? We bring to your attention an informative video from which you will learn how to sew a funny cat pillow from a regular pillowcase. An original pattern, a minimum of action, a little decor and imagination - and you will get an elegant cat or a mischievous cat.

By the same principle, a cheerful hare will turn out, it is enough just to make the ears longer.

Download even more funny cat patterns to bring your wildest creative ideas to life. Such cute little animals will be a wonderful decor for your home or cottage, as well as an original present for your dear people.

Cushion-dog

Do you think that animals do not belong in the house? And here you are wrong. You can always get yourself an adorable pillow dog. A cheerful dachshund will gladly take his place on the sofa and will not cause you any trouble.

A detailed description is presented in our step-by-step master class.

According to this scheme, you will get both a small toy puppy and a solid adult dog. It all depends on the amount of materials at hand and your desire.

And if you have a lot of unclaimed pieces and shreds of fabric left, then you can sew a bright dog pillow out of them. This patchwork toy with a cute face, made in the technique of patchwork, will become a favorite character in the children's room.

This toy can be made together with children and have a fun and useful time. And your child will receive the first lessons of cutting and sewing.

Piggy bank of master classes on pillows + interesting ideas

Heart valentine pillow:

Original circles:

Checkered dog:

Romantic option:

In the form of a star:

A few more original pillows for inspiration:

Pillows for children: cats, bunnies, owls, dogs, bears:

Decorate pillowcases with plant prints

An original way to decorate a pillowcase with a floral ornament is to transfer prints of live fresh grass and leaves onto it. A product with such a design will be unique and one of a kind. It will also warm you on winter evenings with thoughts of a warm summer.

For work you will need:

• natural light fabric;
• freshly picked plants;
• a hammer;
• scissors;
• parchment, preferably siliconized for baking.

Fern, plantain, clover are perfect for prints. Tear off the plant you need, spread it on the fabric and cover with parchment. Beat it very hard with a hammer so that the juice stands out from the leaves, which is absorbed into the fabric and forms an imprint. Remember: you need to beat off the plants on a hard, flat surface.

Experiment with different leaves, stems and their arrangement to get the desired result.

Sewing pillows with your own hands means not only saving on bedding, but also decorating your interior, giving it a personality with simple and inexpensive means. Looking at photos of homemade pillows on the Internet, it may seem that a lot of experience or innate talent is needed here. But the same tasks can be solved much easier, and certainly, while sewing pillows, there is an opportunity to go from simple to complex, eventually creating things worthy of prizes at exhibitions of amateur art. This article is intended to help readers overcome several stages of this path.

What you need to know right away

It is not always possible to sew original pillows as simple sleeping pillows, in the form of a base and pillowcases. So special attention should be paid to the choice of fabric and padding. The pillow is conducive to sleep, and someone will fall asleep on it sometime. Probably tired, with unwashed and unkempt hair; That is, the sheathing fabric should not only accept the finish well, but also be amenable to cleaning. And best of all, the stuffing can be removed and the cover washed without spoiling its decor. In addition, the stuffing itself should retain hygienic qualities, elasticity and be moderately pliable for as long as possible. We will return to pillow materials that meet these requirements, but for now we will discuss ways to decorate them from simple to complex, keeping the above in mind.

Pillow Decorating Methods

Colors

The easiest way to sew decorative pillows in the same way as ordinary sleeping pillows is to choose the color of the fabric. And the simplest of the simplest solutions - several pillows of different colors, forming an ensemble inscribed in the interior. In this way, you can not only turn the boudoir of a cocotte into something similar to a soft fluffy cloud, but also express the individuality of laconic interior styles. Such work, I must say, is mentally very difficult, but technologically and financially elementary. For example, on the left in Fig. the sofa with a composition of pillows is not in vain placed against the backdrop of a window (picture?) with live greenery contrasting with the general tone, and the flower in a vase is placed to the right of the sofa for good reason.

In the center in Fig. a method based on similar aesthetic principles, but not requiring a laconic interior and a special organization for the placement of its objects. The point here is that the background of the upholstery of the furniture and the upholstery of the pillow is the same, as well as the tone and density of the pattern here and there, but the patterns of the patterns are somewhat different. And the pillow is highlighted with a wide, so-called. French, edging, the same as the general background, but darker in color; the color scheme is slightly lighter on the lower and side parts of the furniture upholstery.

Finally, on the right in Fig. shows a way to give the pillow a choice of fabric colors, as they say, aesthetic self-sufficiency, i.e. the ability to express the meaning inherent in it by the craftswoman in any situation. Imagine such a pillow in ... a garbage dump. Will she look worse? And the point here is not only and not so much in the choice of 2-3, no more, catchy flowers that make up a fairly large pattern, but also in the arrangement of stylized images of flowers on the visible surface of the thing.

Applications and printing

Only a little more technically, but no less expressive, can be decorating pillows with appliqués. Here, as before. case, the key to success is the artistic taste of the author and, preferably, the combination of at least 2 things in an ensemble, and, unlike the use of colors, its meaning can be absolutely clear up to frivolity, as on the left in a row of photos, but obscene morally healthy a person in this composition will see no more than in normal marital relations.

A detailed, multi-valued composition of pillows with appliqués is technically more difficult to perform, and there is a risk of falling into flickering. However, today photo printing on fabric is affordable, and the images are durable and of the same quality as the texture of the material allows. So, when considering a multi-cushion group with pictures, first of all, it is worth considering the option of photo printing on blanks, in the center in the figure, especially since you can select / create pictures and simulate the entire ensemble in advance on a computer.

Note: modern technique of photo printing on fabric allows you to create images that are visually equivalent to embroideries. Patches with printed pictures can also form the basis of the application, on the right in fig.

Shape and Fragment

Most good designers prefer to work with form, considering it to be the root cause of the expressiveness of things, and color, texture and drawing/pattern as factors of the next orders. One-two-three-tone sofa cushions, the aesthetic value of which is achieved by the form, can also be technologically uncomplicated (pos. 1 in the figure) thanks to the use of modern materials, see below.

Working with the form, it becomes possible to apply a new approach to the meaningful decoration of things: modularity, pos. 2. Technologically, in this case, only the labor intensity increases monotonously without the appearance of fundamental difficulties, since all modules assembled into the product are structurally similar and simple. But in such cases, you need to think about how to clean it, unless there is a desire to completely redo it at least once every 1-2 years. A furniture vacuum cleaner and cleaning products for it are understandable, but it is necessary to use them less frequently.

The modular principle also allows, without a significant increase in labor intensity, to create sewn things of a simple form, in which the form nevertheless works for aesthetics. This is the so-called. patchwork technique; simply patchwork. Patchwork is not necessarily something deliberately rough, rough, even clumsy.

Decorative pillows using the patchwork technique can be sewn gracefully and neatly without painful reflections and looking at samples / sketches to the pain in the eyes, pos. 3 and 4. All you need is a key element (mainly in the center), which is in harmony with the overall design of the thing, but also stands out in something. At pos. 3 this is achieved by a pattern of the same tone, but much larger than that of the elements of one diagonal and at the same time, of course, smaller than the solid color fill of the squares of the other. And on pos. Key 4, on the contrary, is distinguished by its shape, small size and relief (bulge).

Key element

In general, a compact key element (elements) is able to give grace to a pillow made in any technique. For example, at pos. Fig. 1, the key is a simple button combined with a twist of patches of fabric with a trivial black and white geometric pattern, down to scraps of an old mattress. In the case of using a brighter and more colorful material instead of a button covered with fabric, a button with a round gathered bow, pos. 4.

At pos. 2 tassels and a button ennoble cushions in modestly colored fabric. This approach is attractive in that it is possible to use furniture upholstery and even technical fabrics that do not get dirty easily, clean well, but are not produced bright and shiny. And on pos. 3 is an example of how brushes add aesthetic value to a pillow with a pattern that is too small for this purpose. Perhaps the larger pattern did not suit the overall design, but the pillow still needed decorative self-sufficiency, so the brushes came to the rescue.

Note: a single brush on the corner of the pillow can play, without losing its aesthetic value, a purely utilitarian role, hiding the last seam, see below. In this case, it can be successfully replaced with a pom-pom. How to make a brush and a pompom with your own hands, see next. fig., but in general, with tassels and pompoms as numerous elements of the main decoration of pillows, you need to be more careful, see below.

Lace, knitting and embroidery

All these ways of decorating pillows (see fig.) have in common that things, on the one hand, are laborious and difficult to perform (unless ready-made lace or organdy is used). On the other hand, lace and knitted cushions on the sofa provide not only a magnificent aesthetic effect, but also respect with prestige: complex high-quality work speaks for itself. Moreover, all such things are cleaned and washed many times: people have been weaving lace and knitting for centuries; both craftsmanship is quite adapted to washing much harder than in a modern washing machine with synthetic detergents.

Knitted sofa cushions have another advantage: the last seam is masked without any difficulties, see below. And, by the way, thanks to the same circumstance, knitted decorative pillows can be very easy to make if you sew them from old sweaters, as on the right in Fig.

About knitwear

Knitwear as a material for covering the pillow retains all the advantages of knitted items, incl. the ability to conduct a hidden facial seam. It also has its own special merits. Firstly, the softness of the surface - wool sometimes “bites” the face, and knitting from mohair or down is more difficult. Secondly, accessibility: who hasn’t had to guess what to do with a grown-up child’s sweaters-blouses? Stuff with holofiber (see below), sew up the armholes, embellish a little - and in an hour and a half a good original pillow made from improvised materials is ready, see fig. Whether it fits in the living room is a matter of general design, but as a pillow in the nursery it will be quite in its place. You can also sleep on it without risking button prints on your cheek: turn it over, and that's it.

About embroidery on pillows

For those who know how to embroider, a pillow is a fertile canvas in all respects, see fig.:

If you want to embroider over the entire field, you will need a special hoop in the form of a frame; the canvas in it is stretched (unhoisted) with harsh threads. Drawing, pattern - everything is at your discretion and skill, but there are some features compared to embroidery of other things:

1. No need to embroider with beads, it will be unhygienic and uncomfortable. It is impossible to completely remove particles of dirt from the holes in the beads using any known methods of cleaning pillows, and lying down on the beaded surface is also not very pleasant;
2. Cross-stitch: satin stitch embroidery under the head/body quickly gets dirty and slips, and wrinkles when washed;
3. When embroidering all over the field, make a continuous wide edging: it is just as easy to hide the last seam in it as in a knitted pillow.

Relief

Embossed decor: fringes, bows, frills, puffs, intarsia, weaving, voluminous applications (patches), quilting, etc., etc., see fig. - widely used for finishing pillows, because. allows you to achieve stunning aesthetic effects. However, when starting your first (or next) masterpiece, keep in mind, firstly, that to create beauty by the method “I want a lot of everything! And more!”, is not true in principle. You need to understand what you feel, what you want, and express it in the means available to you. Which do not necessarily have to be tricky and intricate.

Secondly, remember - you are not the trusted seamstress of the Marquise Pompadour or the Countess de Monsoreau. The charm created by your own hands, inexpressible to you once and erased. And the point is not only whether this thing will withstand washing, but also whether the machine will withstand washing such a thing. Not that, the hour is uneven, you will have to learn interesting, but by no means simple ways to repair washing machines. Tassel fringe can still be torn off and sewn on again, but for a soiled, labor-intensive pom-pom pillow, it’s hard to think of something better than throwing it away and making a new one. If the spirit is enough for it after such an opportunity.

However, to dissuade people from striving for beauty is meaningless, and worthless. So about every case in Fig. above - 2 ways to make roses from felt or cotton pads. Such flowers, if necessary, are easy to rip, and then re-sew. Or just make new ones to replace worn ones.

And in fig. on the right - advice about bows: take the same principle of conciseness as a basis, it will never fail, and make bows simple so that they can be untied and tied to take care of the pillow. That pillow is made of burlap, but does it look?

About puffs

Puffs on a suitable fabric, smooth and glossy, are another matter. Properly made, they can be vacuumed and washed by hand without any problems. And to make all this splendor is not at all as difficult as it seems. First you need to learn how to read the schemes for assembling puffs (assembling them, as the sewers say).

For an example, schemes for assembling simple puffs are given in fig. below. All puff schemes are built on an orthogonal-diagonal grid, the module of which (the side of the square) is 2-7 cm, depending on the size of the product and the density of the fabric. The grid in the diagram can be shown explicitly, as on the right in the figure, or its nodes are only marked with dots, as on the left. The mesh is applied to the inside of the workpiece with a textile marker in a mirror image.

Further, the areas that are pulled together (collected, collected) into a puff are marked either with converging arrows (on the left) or red lines (on the right), and those that are not pulled together are marked with simple thin lines. You can collect puffs either with one thread or separately. The first way is for the lazy, because a web of threads is formed from the inside. In any case, each puff is assembled with at least 3 stitches 4-5 mm wide, unless otherwise indicated in the notes to the diagram.

Then, the assembly sequence. It is produced in horizontal or vertical rows, again, unless otherwise indicated in the description of the circuit. In the case when the rows are indicated explicitly (on the left), they are displayed in the order of numbering and puffs in the row are also collected by numbers; here - Row1 1-2, 3-4, etc., then the same Row2 and so on. In the absence of an explicit indication of the rows (on the right), the puffs will be assembled simply in the order of numbering; according to the diagram on the right - 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, etc.

Try to collect any piece of fabric in puffs according to these entry-level schemes, and you will see that it will take a little time, even if you collect one at a time. And then watching a selection of master classes on making pillows with puffs that are much more spectacular and complex will not seem like a nightmarish horror:

Video: do-it-yourself puff pillows, master classes

About figurine pillows

The principle “You don’t need a lot of things! And sooner!” especially appropriate for decorative pillows, aesthetically working primarily in form. They are often sewn according to patterns for soft toys, forgetting that a sewn cat cannot wash itself under its tail. And he will have to take on not only room dust, but also grease. Perhaps, especially when it comes to children's pillows, so to speak, salvo emissions of pollution of biogenic origin.

On children's pillows, in addition, not only jump and ride on them; they not only fight and throw them, they also sleep on them. And a dream, leaning sideways, with a head that has moved to one side, is in no way useful to the emerging skeleton. This should be especially taken into account when sewing a children's toy pillow; For example, we give patterns in Fig.

On the left is a fish pillow. The shape and technique of execution seem to be chosen correctly: it is quite subject to care, the last seam can be covered with a tail or fins. But - the head of a sleeping person can slide to one side, a shoulder will stretch behind it and it turns out that we are sleeping crouched. An owl pillow is free from this drawback, at the top right: the “ears” will be held. Whoever tosses and turns in a dream is better to put such a pillow with a deflection between the “ears” to the neck; this pattern is easy to adapt for a cat pillow, only without a tail. In either case, for better ergonomics, it is desirable to make a diagonal cut as a bedding, see below.

Note: for kids - indefatigable sleepy little spinners on the right below, a pattern of a special pillow, on which the child learns to sleep on his back or on his side, freely stretched out.

Pillows in the form of letters (see Fig.) Moved even closer from pillows to soft toys than pillows-figures: there are many gaps in them, where to sleep there. It is believed that letter pillows are educational, developing, etc. Well, except for the coordination of movements and orientation in space, to climb between them big, like in a maze. As for the speedy learning to read and write, science has not yet been confirmed. Nevertheless, no harm from pillows in the form of letters was also noted, and fun for the child is already good for him.

Large letter cushions must hold their shape well and withstand the corresponding operational stresses, with which little users show amazing ingenuity. One of the variants of this kind of construction is shown in Fig.:

Foam 45 is the highest density furniture foam; we will talk about what holofiber is below. Of course, other ways of sewing letter pillows are also possible, see for example. next video.

Note: diagram in fig. also suitable for stuffing pillows, rolls, if you want to get their ends rounded.

Video: do-it-yourself letter pillows, manufacturing option

About puzzle pillows

Pillow in the form of elements of prefabricated mosaic paintings Puzzle is also quite popular. It is believed that if necessary, a mattress can be assembled from them. You can collect something, yes, yes. But anyone who has tried to sleep on such a mattress knows: it is impossible, it is spreading under you. Pillows, unlike puzzle pieces, are soft, pliable, otherwise not pillows, but some kind of bunks will turn out.

Materials and technique

The fact that when sewing it is necessary to give lapels of 20-30 mm, iron them, sew from the inside out and then turn the product inside out, etc., which is well known, we will not spread. Let's talk in this section about things that beginner seamstresses are not always aware of.

Textile

To properly sew a pillow without a pillowcase that is comfortable, hygienic, practical and durable, you need to choose the right fabric. Firstly, particles of dirt should not stick to its fibers so that they can be sucked out with a vacuum cleaner without the use of detergents. Secondly, the lining fabric should, as far as possible, prevent the migration of dirt into the packing, which is difficult to clean and change. Silk, satin, crepe-satin and their synthetic counterparts satisfy these conditions from light, smooth and bright textile materials. From light, but soft - coarse calico, baize and other linen fabrics. From rough, but very durable - any furniture upholstery materials. Also, depending on the style of execution, it is possible to use any technical fabrics, except, perhaps, propylene matting and the like - too slippery, but at the same time rough and harsh.

Warp and weft

When cutting a pillow, the orientation of the warp and weft threads of the fabric matters. Orthogonal (straight) orientation, when the warp and weft are oriented perpendicular (along) resp. sides, allows you to more accurately maintain the shape of the pillow according to the pattern. But, if a straight-cut pillow with sharp corners is stuffed with sufficiently dense material, its corners may be empty and sag, pos. 1 in fig.

In pillows with a diagonal cut (warp and weft - at 45 degrees to the sides), the corners will always be full, but a “waist” will appear larger than provided by the pattern, pos. 2. If the pillow is elongated, the thinnest "waist" will be on the long sides, pos. 3, which is not always desirable. In this case, the use of satin or twill weave fabric will help to give the pillow a pleasant fullness, pos. 4.

Stuffing

However, feather / down stuffing, firstly, is not elastic enough for decorative pillows, they are not fluffed up like sleeping pillows, because of the imminent damage to the finish from such treatment. Secondly, small soft feathers and natural down for stuffing pillows are hard to reach. In the old days, the whole family collected feathers and down for the wedding featherbed (an indispensable attribute of the dowry) for the future bride.

Nowadays, almost ideal stuffing materials for pillows have been developed - syntepuh and holofiber. In terms of hygiene, they are not inferior to swan's down; however, not for the lifetime of generations, but up to 7-10 years. On the other hand, the pillow decor is no longer alive. But these materials have an undoubted advantage: they are moderately elastic and retain this quality for years.

In essence, sintepukh and holofiber are the same material based on the finest tangled polyester fibers; This is the same polyethylene terephthalate (PET) used to make food utensils and bottles. Sintepukh is produced in the form of fluffy granules (on the left in the figure), and holofiber undergoes additional molding and goes on sale in sheets (plates), on the right there.

Sheet holofiber keeps its shape no worse than the best furniture foam rubber. By the way, in letter pillows (see above), you can make the entire base out of it, but it will cost a lot: sheet holofiber is much more expensive than foam rubber, and the material waste in this case is large. But where sheet holofiber is indispensable is in the manufacture of cloud pillows, etc. of complex irregular shape: the workpiece must be cut off with scissors, and then covered with a cloth without a pattern in place.

Another stuffing material particularly suitable for baby pillows is round silicone granules. They don't get wet, this time. Two - silicone granules can be poured into the cover through an armhole that is only 2-4 cm wide, which greatly simplifies the problem of the last seam. Three - the cover from them can be emptied through the same armhole, and the granules can be washed by hand in a basin. In the car - in no case, it will fail instantly! Washed and dried silicone granules can be put back into the same bag; the pillow will be the same as before.

Note: to expanded polystyrene granules, which fill frameless furniture, all of the above regarding the sanitary and hygienic properties of silicone granules does not apply.

Last seam...

... he is the most difficult. You probably already guessed that this is the very seam that needs to be sewn up from the face when the pillow is already inside out and stuffed. Usually for this it is recommended to sew a zipper in advance. With regard to, say, a pear chair or other frameless furniture, this is really the best option.

But the pillow does not have a bottom and a back, on which they never sit, do not sleep, do not lean on them, and waking up with the imprint of a fastener on your cheek is useless under any circumstances. As for the representatives of the stronger sex, a pillow with a zipper is able to cling to their mustache, beard and just 3-5 day stubble. The pillow sticking to the personality harmonizes perfectly with the rumpled physiognomy, but only in a comical sense.

There is no problem at all with knitted, knitted and embroidered pillows with edging, if the thread for the last seam is taken to match the material of the face: stitches of only 1-2 mm in this case are completely drawn into it and turn out to be quite strong. Good options are also a solid narrow textile piping in tone with the general color, see fig., lace or pleated border, inlay, etc. However, the universal solution for the last seam is a narrow, 2-4 cm, armhole in the corner. Through it, you can fill the pillow with sintepuh or silicone granules, and mask the front seam with a brush or pompom. Sintepukh, if necessary, is pulled out in shreds with a crochet hook. At first, silicone granules are simply squeezed out, like paste from a tube, and their remainder is removed from the inside-out case.

About seamless pillows

Representatives of nomadic professions and residents of student hostels from times up to the middle of Khrushchev's have long been familiar with such people. A beautiful scarf allows you to make decorative seamless pillows in just minutes; the basis can be either an ordinary pillow or a piece of foam rubber cut in shape or just a lump of rags. How this magnificent illustration of the saying “Need for inventions is cunning” is created is shown in the figure:

You can tie a curly knot or straighten its ends into a socket and grab it with threads; however, this will be a formal violation of the “seamless” principle. In this case, something like a rose from those described above will also fit in the center.

In Conclusion: Form Functionality