Sewing Projects: Tufted Pillow

Last summer, I set to the task of making our bedroom more cozy. To me, of course, this meant adding a decorative pillow (or two, or five) to the bed. To my husband, this seemed an unnecessary and undesirable addition to the room. Why add another step to making the bed? This pillow admittedly spends most of its time on the floor, as we rarely make our bed anyway, but it was still a fun project! And my husband doesn't mind it too much after all.

The idea came from Martha Stewart's website. However, the instructions were rather vague, and I do better with pictures anyway, so I looked to Katafalk's blog learningtofly, which includes a step-by-step tutorial on how to do honeycomb smocking. If I remember right, I made all my dots 2 inches apart. Instead of buying the recommended $50 pillow sham to begin with, I bought fabric and just made it myself. The tricky part was first figuring out the starting dimensions of the fabric, as it gets so puckered that the end result is much smaller, and then sewing the puckered piece to the flat back. Anyway, if you want to try this project and have questions, just ask!