19 October 2007

Fabric Folding - Origami Flower Pillows



I was reading a quilting blog - A Canary's Life... The Caged Bird Sings - today that talked about fabric origami and linked to an HGTV site giving directions on how to make a folded flower. And hey - I've done that before!

I haven't felt like sewing in the last little while, so I haven't really had anything new going on to talk about, and then I thought about posting old stuff, but I didn't want to do a big photo-dump. So maybe just dribs and drabs like this, when I think of something specific.

Anyway, these five pillows are just a few of MANY that I made for Christmas gifts in 2005. They're just tiny little things - if I remember right, they're 6x6-in square. But for a long time I've thought about making them smaller yet in order to make pin/needle cushions. I just don't know what you use to "stuff" a pin cushion. (I assume it's not just batting?)

At any rate, the second picture is the only larger scale thing I made using the pattern. It was also a Christmas gift, though that one was for my cousin, who is a huge fan of dragonflies. I found the dragonfly/snail print and decided that bugs would work with flowers. It's a 14" pillow.

Some day I think I'd like to make a full-size quilt full of those little flowers, but they're definite fabric hogs, so it's a big hard for me to commit to something on a larger scale. (Each 4" flower requires a 9" square of fabric.) It sort of feels wasteful. Hm. On the other hand, maybe it's what I can do with all the ugly floral fabrics my mom likes to buy me even though she knows I don't like them. I could make her a throw, or something.

2 comments:

  1. Absolutely gorgeous! Your pillows are amazing! The flowers are fabric hogs but beautiful. Using your unwanted fabric for the florals would be a great idea, I'd love to see it!

    For pin cushions you want something to weigh down the bottom in addition to the polyester stuffing. I also like to add left over cotton quilt batting to line the cloth covering to avoid polyester batting sneaking through the weave over time.

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  2. Thanks for the suggestions for pin-cushions. I probably won't do them this year, but last year I bought fabric for doing it, so maybe next year :D

    I keep thinking about that idea for using up my florals I don't like. If I can work out some way to get it done in time for Christmas for my mom... I just might go ahead.

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