Skinny Pillows as Decor

....or a gift for someone - a teacher or your hair stylist (like I'm doing!)

Quick tutorial:

Here's how make a stunning little pillow from 2 contrasting appliqued blocks. And if you keep the pillows very thin, they can be used as decorations - tucked away on a bookcase, nestled in among some dishes, even slipped in between the branches of your tree!

Here's how I do it:

Start with a perfectly symmetrical template (in this case a snowflake). Before doing anything with fabric, cut the snowflake template in half and separate the 2 halves to add 1/2" for a seam allowance. Tape the template back together to cut out shapes.

Applique 2 snowflake blocks with contrasting colors as shown below:

Cut each block in half, exactly down the middle (where you added the additional 1/2").

Switch half of the blocks so each block has one side of each background color, as shown below:

Matching snowflake edges in the center, stitch the pieces together to make 2 pillow fronts. Cut 2 squares of coordinating fabric to make the backs of the pillows. With right sides together, stitch around the blocks, leaving a pretty good sized opening to turn the pillow and to stuff the insert into it.

Make a pillow insert about 1" bigger than the applique block. You could use muslin or any inexpensive white fabric. I save the filling from old pillows to make my own pillow forms. Fill the pillow form very lightly and stitch it closed.

You don't need a lot of filling - just enough to stabilize the pillow case so it can stand up. Here you can see how thin my form is (haha! I wish that were true in every way!!) :

Stuff the form into the pillow case and hand-stitch the opening closed. Now you have a little Christmas decoration that can be tucked in just about anywhere you need some additional holiday spirit!

This would work really well with a simple Christmas tree shape, a gingerbread man, a candle - really anything as long as it's truly symmetrical.