snowflakes (and a mini-tutorial)

What's more Christmasy than snowflakes?  I was strolling through target the other day and saw some cute snowflake pillows - simple and modern looking.  So I was all excited to write up a little tutorial for this quick project, and then I saw Amy's post the other day with her snowflake pillow tutorial from last year.   Darn, she beat me to it.  Anyway, it's about the same concept as the pillow I was going to make.  I'll just give you a rundown of what I did and give you a snowflake template for you to make your own!

{makes two 18" pillow covers}

3/4 yard red felt
2 sheets cream or off-white felt, or 1/2 yard (you'll have a lot leftover if you buy yardage)
snowflake template

Cut your snowflake using the template:

I printed the snow flake on my printer, then laid the paper on top of my felt.  Using and exacto knife I cut on top of the lines of the snowflake.  Lift the paper off the felt and re-cut any lines as necessary if you missed any spots.  I used my 28mm rotary cutter and it worked well to trim off the excess. 

Cut your pillow cover pieces:

Cut two pillow top pieces 18" by 18", cut 4 backing pieces (for an envelope style closure) 12" by 18".

Sew the snowflake onto the pillow top, it'll stick nicely since it's felt on felt. Yes, it's a lot of small stitches and turning, but it really isn't too bad. Just take your time and stitch about 1/8" away from all raw edges.

You wouldn't have to finish the edges of the felt if you didn't want to since felt doesn't fray, but for the envelope back pieces I just turned mine over by 1/2"  on one of the long edges and sewed it down, do this for each of the four backing pieces.

Sew pillow together.  Place pillow top piece RIGHT side up on your work surface.  Place both backing pieces RIGHT side down on top of the pillow top piece.  Pin and sew along entire perimeter using a 3/8" seam allowance. Clip corners.  Turn right side out, stuff in your pillow form and go find a spot to cozy in with it at your couch.