Holly Berry Pillow Tutorial
I loved the Felt Christmas Tree Pillow I sewed last year for BERNINA and thought it would be fun to make a companion pillow. So I’ve designed a Felt Holly Berry Pillow to share with you. With felted wool pom poms again. I can’t get enough of those pom poms! I love the handmade look accomplished with the magic #6 triple stitch on the BERNINA 580 and a bit of hand sewing on the pom poms. You can easily make this pillow in the afternoon and have a cute holiday touch for your couch or a great handmade gift to share.
Materials to make a Holly Berry Pillow
- Download the Holly Berry Pillow Template
- 1/2 yard high quality felt in red (I used a mostly wool felt)
- 1/4 yard high quality felt in green, or a scrap large enough for cutting 6 holly leaves
- 6 felted wool pom poms in reds, pinks and oranges
- Coordinating thread for sewing and hand stitching
- Hand sewing needle
- Stuffing to fill an 16 inch pillow
- Your sewing machine. I sew on a BERNINA 580
How to sew the Holly Berry Pillow
Step 1: Prepare and Cut Out Your Pattern
Download the Holly Berries Template file and print it at 100% (no scaling). Cut out one of the leaves for a pattern and keep the rest of the page to use as a placement guide.
Cut 6 holly leaves from your green felt.
Cut out two 16 inch squares from your red felt, one for the pillow front and one for the pillow back. Be sure to get a really clean, straight cut as there will be no hemming.
Step 2: Stitch on the Holly Leaf Appliques
On the right side of one of your red felt squares, determine placement of your holly leaves using the pattern PDF file you downloaded and this image as a reference.
Pin your leaves in place.
Now using a thread of your choice (I used a slightly lighter, brighter green) set your machine to the triple stitch (#6 on my BERNINA 580) and set your stitch length to 5.0mm. Start at the stem end of one of the leaves and top stitch carefully around the holly leaf. I found it helpful to count the 1-2-3 of the triple stitch so that I could pivot at the right time and keep those triple stitches neatly stacked on top of each other.
Repeat with the remaining five holly leaves.
Your pillow front should look like this:
Step 3: Handstitch the Pom Poms
Arrange the pom poms on the pillow front to your liking, using the illustration above as a guide.
Use extra large safety pins to secure the pom poms from the backside of your pillow front.
Thread a hand sewing needle with a doubled length of thread, double and knot at the end so you can stitch with four strands. Bring the needle up from the back side of your pillow front in the center of a pom pom.
Push the needle back down through the pillow front catching the underside of the pom pom, making a short diagonal stitch like one leg of an “X.”
Now bring the needle from the underside up through the center of the pom pom again and insert the needle down the side of the pom pom, catching the underside, to creating a stitch at a right angle with your first. Make two more stitches like this until you have stitched an “X” over your pom pom.
Repeat until you have secured all your pom poms this way.
Step 4: Stitch the Pillow Together and Finish
Lay the pillow front on top of the pillow back, wrong sides together and pin.
Using the #6 stitch on your BERNINA sewing machine, with a stitch length of 5.omm, stitch around the edge of the pillow on all sizes using a .5 inch seam allowance. Leave a 3 inch opening along the bottom for stuffing the pillow.
Stuff the pillow and stitch the opening closed. This will take a bit of wrangling. I recommend using your zipper foot to maintain the .5″ seam allowance along the bottom without having to wedge the pillow under your presser foot.
Now your pillow is ready to gift or enjoy!
Our December 20 Gift for You:
Today’s gift is a BERNINA oil pen.
All you have to do is post a comment below answering the following question:
What kind of home decorating project tutorials would you like to see at WeAllSew?
A winner will be chosen at random on December 21, 2016 and announced the following week!
Good luck!
The contest is open for comments until December 20 at 12:00 midnight Central Time. Click here for contest rules.
Congratulations to WeAllSew reader “sewtired,” the winner of our December 20th gift. Enjoy!
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56 comments on “Holly Berry Pillow Tutorial”
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First ideas for purses and 4 our family ofanimal friends
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I would like to see a project for my sofa.Something to put on it.
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I like projects for home decorating that look complicated but are really easy to make. Pretty much anything made for floor to ceiling.
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Simple yet elegant table decorations
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Patchwork pillows are nice. Thank you!
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Gosh, I think you are doing a great job already. I like pillows, wall hangings, table runners, napkins, ornaments.
Thanks for this great pillow tutorial. It looks fun and easy. -
I have lots of windows with blinds with slats. We are open concept and I don’t want to block any of the light so don’t want curtains or drapes. Maybe some sort of valance? But my husband can’t do anything out of wood. Help.
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More pillows, especially with fabrics I don’t normally use such as shaggy or suede fabrics.
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Wall hanging quilts.
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Love table decorations!!!
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More examples of decorating with applique
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Seasonal table runners would be fun (coffee table, kitchen table, end table). I love to decorate my home with table runners but have few patterns.
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Hmmm… not sure pillows, table toppers and the like. Cute pillows!
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Chair covers, easy window treatments, up-cycled decorations.
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The pillows (current & last year) are darling. And so easy to make! I think I can just squeeze them in before the 25th!
I would like to see home dec tutorials for the sewing room – sewing machine & serger covers, pin cushions, mannequinn covers, etc. Thank you! Linda -
I would love to see more pillows
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I like embroidered wall hangings. I’ve made several of the ones that have been posted here!
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I would like to see projects for all over my house- bedroom, bath, kitchen ect
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I love the home decoration patterns! The easy and quick table runners, pillows, etc. These work up quickly and I love rapid gratification!!!
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I would love to see seasonal table decor and pillows
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I like home decor tutorials that teach a technique and can be adapted to various designs.
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Upholstery!
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I would like to learn how to make place mats that are easy but don’t look it.
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Anything for a home from pillows to curtains.
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I like projects that teach me to use my machine to its best advantage. I have a Bernina 830 with embroidery unit.
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I want to customize my pillows on sofa for seasons. Maybe a series hitting big events we celebrate all year.
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Table toppers or runners that you can alter to make in the size you need for your size table
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I would be interested in holiday decorations that use different presser feet and embroidery designs. Thank you.
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I would like to see curtains.
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I would like to see some creative window decorating ideas. Model homes seem to have such unusual window treatments. I’m ready to recreate a few of them.
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I love small wall hanging quilts (easy to make and give)
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I have wooden dining room chairs and a wooden desk chair. I would love to make cushions for them.
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I’d be interested in holiday banners – Christmas, Easter, July 4th, etc.
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I like table decorations and easy aprons.
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Decorating with organization in mind. Xmas get so cluttered, well every holiday gets cluttered. Being able to decorate and organize at the same time is a real test of a project. For instant the card holder is a decoration but useful. What other things can we make that emphasizes that same theme.
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How about a bolster pillow with some easy free-motion quilting?
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Pretty table linens
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I would like to have some ideas for pads or pillows for my wood dining room chairs.
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I would love to see cut work table scarves and vegetable garden flag identifiers
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I like table runners.
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easy slip covers
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I like the wide variety of tutorials you have always offered. I would like to see you offer projects which make use of quilting techniques with non-traditional fabrics. As well as some more wool felting !
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Projects for the home. I need a new duvet, dust ruffle or bed spread. I now have a very deep 22″ tall. Cannot find duvets that fit.
I also love th make aprons as gifts. Some cute apron Ideas.
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Cute pillow! I would love to see tutorial for pillows that teach various techniques. Thanks for the chance to play : )
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Table runner’s, pillows, fun pillowcases for a bed, table toppers…any and all of the above!
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I’d like to see cute, easy guest bathroom hand towels.
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I love pillows and table decor!
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I would like to see more projects to brighten the bath rooms. We and guests do spend a lot of time in there. Maybe a toilet seat cover, Kleenex or toilet paper cover, back of the door hanging organizer, how to dress up the hand towels, small seasonal (for each month) wall hangings, applique or ? on store bought shower curtains, how to cover a plain flower vase (I have one in each bathroom), and best tutorial of all—how to make a screen to hide the kitty litter box.
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I don’t know, you’ve had lots of cute ideas that I haven’t tried yet. I really want to do more quilting. I have so many scraps that need to be used. Guess they work nicely for applique too.
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I like pillow covers because they are easier to store and fun to change!
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I would like to see an easy way to make perfect roman shades.
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How to make different types of curtains/drapes, window ideas
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How to make pillowcases for the bedroom
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upolstry!
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I’d love to see advent calendars – all kinds. I saw a cute one recently that was
small, embriodered stockings mounted on a wall hanging. The tops were left open for the goodie of the day. It was beautiful!
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I love the pillow patterns; quick and easy for a Hostess gift when needed plus added benefit of a new technique to try.