alisaburke: creating with jules- textured pillow

I’ve been noticing these woven textured cushions popping up in my Pinterest feed and thought about replicating the look and feel of them, but without creating woven fabric from scratch! (Or spending lots of money on designer cushions!) This cushion cover is quick to make so can be made in an afternoon, in any color-way of your choosing.

You’ll need:

Cushion fabric, two pieces 13 x 20 1/2”

Calico fabric, two pieces 13 x 20 1/2”

Stuffing

Various yarns and threads

Wool needle with sharp end

Scrap woven fabric, if desired

I found an off cut of some woven fabric in the upholstery section of a fabric store. The visible weave gives it more of a look that the whole cushion has been woven.

I used yarn and threads that were already in my stash, and starting playing around with color and placement. I’ve given a sampler of ideas, so get creative and play around.

I used hand sewing to place all the embellishments on my cushion.

Ideas:

1. Sew down some short lengths of yarn
2. Pom poms
3. Stitching down lengths of thick yarn
4. Stitching down lengths of yarn in a zig zag pattern
5. Loops or tassels
6. Sewing woven fabric on and fraying the edges
7. Stitching clusters of thread
8. Sewing down thick yarn letting loops protrude every so often
9. Knots of thread
10. Sew down cord, plaits, or other fancy trimmings
11. Straight spaced stitches

Pom poms make a great addition. You make a pom pom by wrapping yarn around a few of your fingers multiple times, and then tying around the middle with a short length of yarn. Don’t wrap around your fingers too tightly or you won’t fit the length through to tie around the loops! Snip through all the loops and give your pom pom a hair cut with scissors.

When sewing down lengths of yarn, I used some crochet cotton and came out the side of the yarn with the needle and back through the fabric over the other side of the yarn. The needle then comes out the next place where you want your stitch to be.

I looped thread onto a skewer and then sewed it onto the fabric. I found it easier to make these loops on a skewer as I could pull them tight and get the look I wanted, sewing them down later.

Finish sewing any embellishments you would like on your cover.

Once you are happy with your cover, zig zag or serge edges of both pieces of fabric, then place right sides together, and sew with a 1/2” seam allowance. Leave an opening at one end to turn through. Clip corners and turn right side out.

Sew the calico insert the same size as your cushion leaving an opening, and turn right way out. Stuff, and stitch closed.

Pop the calico insert into the cushion cover and sew open end of cushion closed. Make four tassels by wrapping yarn around your fingers multiple times and then tying a length of yarn to fasten around the top loops. Tie another length around the tassel near the top and using a yarn needle, hide the ends inside the tassel. Cut through the bottom loops then trim to neaten up.

Sew the tassels onto corners of the cushion, and you’re done!