Crafts & Handiwork - Weaving Your Home Decor Spell With Woven Ribbon Pillow Covers

There's something so special and luxurious about beautiful satin or brocaded ribbons. Imagine a pillow woven from your favorite colors. With a bit of planning and searching, you can find lovely fabrics to complement any decor, or add a touch of romantic elegance to your boudoir.

Making a woven ribbon pillow will help you to customize your decor. By using leftover swatches of materials you have already used in your room, you can tie in the pillows perfectly. If, for instance, you had used co-ordinating fabrics for a chair and ottoman, these could be used again in a lamp shade. As well, several hemmed strips of the fabric could be added to the strips used to make up  your ribbon pillow.

These instructions are for a 12" x 12" pillow, but can easily be adjusted to any size

You will need:

• Several yards of different colored fabric ribbon
• Medium weight fusible interfacing
• Cardboard backing & straight pins
• Material to match main ribbon colors (1/2 - 1 yard, depending on width of fabric)
• Coordinating cording
  

Step One: Weaving

• Cut a piece of interfacing about 10" square
• Place it on the cardboard, fusible side up
• Cut 10" strips of ribbon and lay them vertically, securing at the top with a pin
• Weave 10" strips of ribbon horizontally, over and under, and secure with pins

Using a medium heat, iron the ribbon onto the interfacing - this usually requires holding the iron in place for about 10 seconds, follow the instructions for the interfacing.

Step Two: Sew on the front border

• Cut two strips of material 3" x 10".
• Place on opposite sides of your woven ribbon, right sides together, and stitch about 1/2" seam
• Cut off the excess and iron to flatten
• Cut two strips of material 3" x 13". Place along the top and bottom, right sides together
• Stitch and iron as above
  

Step Three: Trim

Hand stitch the cording around your ribbon square, or criss-cross through the middle. Use your imagination, this is the fun part.

Step Four: Backing

• Cut a 13" x 13" square of material
• Place sides together and stitch a 1/2" seam along 3 sides.
• Turn right-side out and fill with polyfill material or pre-made pillow
• Turn edges under and sew closed

If you want, you can add extra trim to the outer edges of your pillow, such as cording that matches the ribbons, tassels, lace, etc.

To make a removable pillow cover, cut one side of the front and back trim bigger by 5/8”. Insert a zipper on that side according to the manufacturer’s instructions. After top-stitching or finishing the zipper as required, turn the pillow inside out, with right sides together. Sew from the end of the zipper around all the sides, ending at the top of the zipper. Over-sew to fasten. Trim the corners and press the seams open. Turn right-side out and press with a warm iron. Insert pre-formed pillow.

For a custom finish, make a fabric bag slightly smaller than the finished dimensions of the pillow and stuff it with the loose polyfill. Sew shut. This will enclose the loose fill, making it easier to wash

As you can see from the beautiful examples above, simply weaving the ribbons together is only one way to create a unique and exquisite fashion accessory. By alternating contrasting colors, you can create patterns within the main pattern.

The red and white variation by beginning at the top of the pillow with 5 strips of red ribbon followed by seven strips of white ribbon, and finishing with five more strips of red. That pattern is then repeated down the side to give the red and white cross with the pure white center.

The patterns and variations are only limited by your imagination. My favorite pattern is a bit more random. I simply scout out ribbons of a similar weight in colors I love, and then see what goes together. This "mood of the moment" method is a bit whimsical, but the resulting pillow covers can be quite unexpectedly lovely.

Happy Crafting!

© 2009, Text by Elle Fredine, All rights reserved