http://decorate.tipjunkie.com/how-to-make-the-layla-pillow-inspired-by-crate-and-barrel/
First step? Pick up some felt at Hobby Lobby. Spent $4 on a yard of it (and could have gotten away with a half yard, I have a ton left over). Then I cut it in a 17x17 inch square.
Then I traced out some circles so I could cut them out. The sizes I used? A quarter, the lid to vitamin C supplements, and a half dollar.
Then cut out the sixty bazillion circles.
The description to the pillow says that the edges are singed for texture and depth. So I did the same thing. Used a candle to slightly singe the edges. Warning! These can burn fast, don't hold it too close.
The singed one is on the top, the non singed one is on the bottom. Can you see a difference?
Then I laid out my circles to get my layout. I handsewed my circles, which took FOREVER. But I do have a certain 7 month old who decided this week that I can't put her down, so I could only sew for a few minutes at a time, or after she went to bed.
Then after it's all finished (don't judge my ugly backside), I sewed the front and back together. Don't forget to leave an opening so you can flip and stuff it.
And then you flip it, stuff it, and sew up the hole.
And VOILA!
And it's fabulous and you love it and think I must be awesome to be able to handsew all of those circles and make them look perfect, right?
Well, I won't lie. Some of my circles looked like this awesome circle.
And some circles, you'd swear that I was drunk while I sewed them.
- Keep the felt moving while you're singing the edges. If not, you're not going to end up with a circle. You're going to end up with a blobby thing when the flame melts away the fabric instead of singeing it. See photo above. Oops.
- I normally just leave a 5 inch opening in the pillow. But since felt doesn't have a lot of stretch, I'd leave a bigger one. You don't want your fabric to stretch out while you're flipping it.
- The reason I handsewed it is because I wanted the stitches to be more visible. I couldn't get the stitches with my machine to show up, no matter what stitch length/tension I put it on. But you may have more luck than I did.
- Don't forget to clip your corners before you flip it. I use a chopstick to get the corners nice and pointy.
