Guest post from Sarah of BlueSusan Makes: the pom-pom pillow!

Today we’re lucky enough to have a guest post from my good friend Sarah of BlueSusan Makes. I so love her striaghtforward approach to sewing (to everything, really) and her practical tips.

 

H there everyone!! When Caroline featured a cute pillow tutorial a couple weeks ago I fell in love with those pom poms.

I have a pile of pillows waiting for me to update and I knew this would be my next pillow project.  I had a couple of Fat Quarters left from Sara Trails Heart to Heart line, and I thought they’d be perfect for the job.

I’m so happy with the way it turned out! Today I’m sharing a few tips for you to consider if you plan on making one of these too.

The tutorial was super easy to follow but I found that working with those pretty pompoms was a little tricky.

My first tip is to take Ashley’s advice and baste them on first.  It really helps!  As I was putting those pom poms on I discovered I was just a bit short,  Ugh! Much to my dismay I had to go back to the store for 5 inches.  Oh well I guess every project has it’s hitch.

Tip #2 don’t give up when you hit a snag!

Tip #3 : Use your zipper foot!  As I was sewing the pillow sandwich together I figured out that it was much easier to sew close to the pompoms if I used my zipper foot.

One more general pillow tip…make sure your zipper is partially unzipped before you sew around the sides.

Thankfully I remembered to do this…. but I did have another little snag.  As I opened that cute red fat quarter I discovered I had already used a corner of it.  I just grabbed another coordinating fabric on had and adjusted the zipper panel measurements accordingly.  I love how it turned out even better.

I really love my new pillow! Thank you Ashley for the great tutorial!

If you are interested in seeing what else I’m making when I’m not helping at SewCanShe, you can visit me at Blue Susan Makes!