Pressed Flower Pillow – Fusible Fleece Week

Silk flowers are coming back in. I’m ready to hop onto the silk flower bandwagon, especially since I didn’t get on board with chevron until it was almost on its way out. This time I’m ahead of the curve! Silk flowers are being used in all kinds of fun ways, not just in floral arrangements. For this project, I took apart silk flowers to make a quilted pressed flower pillow. A great pillow for a garden room, or any space in your house that could use a little cheer!

I used red flowers and coordinating thread, but you could use any color (or a variety of colors) to make your own pressed flower pillow. The whole pillow took me about 2 hours to make, from start to finish, so it is a great quick project to make in an afternoon. Let’s get started, shall we?

 To make your pressed flower pillow, you need:

1 yard background fabric (I chose a white-on-white leaf print for some background texture)
Silk flowers (they don’t have to be silk – any fake flowers will do)
Spray n Bond® Fusible Adhesive
Scrap Cardboard
Pressing Paper or pressing cloth
Iron
Thermoweb Fusible Fleece™
Sewing machine with quilting foot and coordinating thread
20″ pillow form

Start by taking apart your flowers. Just pull them off the stems, and start taking off the pieces from the bottom. Save the petals, leave the rest.

Take the petals outside. Lay them on your scrap cardboard and spray with the fusible adhesive. The better you spray them now, the easier your quilting will be later.

Make sure each one gets a good coat of the SpraynBond® Fusible Adhesive.

While the adhesive dries, cut your fabric. For my 20″ pillow form, I cut my fabric and Fusible Fleece™ 24″ square for the front. I will trim it down after quilting. For the back, I cut two pieces 21″ by 13″, and put them aside. Then fused the fleece to the back of the background fabric.

I love using HeatnBond® Fusible Fleece for quilted pillow projects. It is easier than using batting because I don’t have to add any backing fabric. The fleece has loft like batting, but is more stable, so I don’t have to back it – which is a waste of fabric on a pillow, if you ask me! Fusing the fleece to the pillow bastes it securely in place, preventing puckers and tucks during quilting. It is great for beginning projects, and easy for experienced quilters to use – I love my fusible fleece!

Lay the flower petals fusible-side-down on the backing fabric. Space them out the way you want them on the finished pillow. Cover with a pressing paper or cloth, and press in place.

Once all the flowers are pressed in place, it is time to quilt! I chose a loopy fill for my quilting design, but you can use straight lines or a fancy design as well. I love all the layers of texture on this pillow – first the print on the background fabric, then all the flower petals, then the quilting – it adds a luxurious feel to the pillow.

If the edges of your flowers are not secure, use a stiletto, or the point of a pencil, to hold them down as you quilt over them. Don’t worry if a couple edges flip over – it will add to the look of pressed flowers, which also have curled over edges.

Trim the front down to 21″ square.

Time to prepare the two backing pieces cut earlier. On each piece, press 1/2″ to the back along one of the long sides. Press 1/2″ over again, then stitch down. I like two rows of stitching for a more finished look. With the pillow front right side UP, lay the backing pieces right side DOWN, with the stitched edges overlapping in the middle.

Pin the backing to the front, and stitch all the way around. Clip your corners, turn the pillow right side out through the hole made in the overlap on the back, and all that is left is to insert the pillow form!

I used roses for my project, but this project would look great with all different kinds of flowers – sunflowers, daisies, or whatever suits your fancy! I also think it would look great with different kinds of quilting – straight lines, curved lines, echo quilting… there are so many ways to quilt up a whole garden filled with pressed flower pillows!

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