Monogramed Pillow Tutorial: By Tammy

I recently saw a monogram pillow in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog that I really liked. I wasn’t too thrilled with the price tag and I knew I could make it myself. This is an easy project and the big bonus is that you are the designer and can decide things like colors, fabrics and sizes. I always like doing things my way! I made a 16 inch square pillow. Please adjust the measurements and materials as needed for the size you make.

Materials

1 yard border and backing fabric

1/2 yard pillow front fabric

scrap of fabric for monogram

small section of two-sided fusible webbing (I prefer Heat N Bond Lite)

pillow form

coordinating thread

Instructions

NOTE: Sew everything with 1/4 inch seam allowances unless otherwise stated.

Cut all fabrics

Pillow front 16 1/2 inches square piece
2 Long borders (top and bottom) 4 inches x 24 inches
2 short borders (sides) 4 inches x 16 1/2 inches
backing 23 1/2 inches x 14 1/2 inches
backing 23 1/2 inches x 12 1/2 inches

Sew front section

With right sides together (RST), sew side borders to each side of pillow front. Monogram Pillow 8

Press seam flat with seam allowance facing the outside edges. Monogram Pillow 9

Sew long borders to top and bottom of pillow front. Trim any excess edges so everything lines up. Monogram Pillow 10

Be careful when sewing over a seam. You want it to stay flat. Monogram Pillow 11

Press seams to outside edges again. Press seams from the top, too. Monogram Pillow 12

Prepare back sections

Fold center back edge (one of the 23 1/2 inch sides) under 1/4 inch and press.

Fold over another inch and press in place. Monogram Pillow 6

Sew in place and press flat. Monogram Pillow 7

Monogram

Use your word processing program to print out the letter you will use.

Be sure to print it the same size that you want.

Tape the letter backwards to a sunny window. Tape the Heat N Bond (HnB) over the letter.

Trace the letter directly onto the HnB paper backing.

(You will see I forgot to do it backwards so I just traced over it again. I flipped this picture around, though, so it is shown correctly.) Monogram Pillow 1

Iron the HnB to the back of the fabric scrap. Monogram Pillow 2

Cut out the monogram and peel off the paper backing. Monogram Pillow 3

Iron the monogram to the pillow front. I chose to center mine, but you can do anything. Monogram Pillow 13

Change your stitch to a zig zag stitch.

Change the stitch length to almost 0.

Experiment with the stitch width on a scrap fabric to determine how wide you would like it.

I decided to make the stitch length a bit larger than I usually do when sewing an applique, but I probably wouldn’t do it again. I like a satin stitch that is very tightly packed. There were a lot of curves in this letter and those are hard. Go slow and be patient. You’ll see that mine is by no means perfect! Monogram Pillow 14

Press the applique flat especially around the curves. Monogram Pillow 15

Sew back to front

Lay the back sections on the front section with RST. The piece that is a little wider should be under the other one. Monogram Pillow 16

Mine did not come out even (it never does!), but it can just be trimmed. Be sure the sections are flat. Monogram Pillow 17

Pin very carefully all of the way around.

(I didn’t the first time and had to rip it out. The second picture shows how I pinned around the “flaps” from the back section. It is really important that they are flat.)