May 5, 2010

"Butterfly Collection" Pillow Tutorial

This is a little idea that's been in the back of my mind, and I think "Celebrating MOM" is the perfect excuse to bring it out!


It's so easy to make, you'll feel guilty about giving it as a Mother's Day present!
Although, cutting out the butterflies will probably take you a good 40 minutes, but that's nothing a cup of tea and a Jane Austen DVD can't solve, right?


1. Starting with a pillow form (or an old, plain throw pillow), cut enough felt to fit around the pillow with about 4-5" of overlap on top, and no more than 1/2" overlap on the sides:

2. With the fabric still wrapped around the pillow, put a pin in each corner to mark a centered working space:

3. Print out this little template:
And cut out 16 felt butterflies in whichever colors your little heart desires.

4. Take the pillow cover off, and pin the butterflies on, within your marked space.

5. Then stitch around the butterfly bodies, like so:

6. With the pillow cover inside out, wrap it around your pillow and pin the top overlap, as pictured, then slip the pillow out, and sew both sides closed.

Turn it right-side-out, and use the slit in the back to put your pillow form back in! All done!
And have fun adding a little whimsy to your sofa!

The felt makes it nice and snuggly, too!
Check your craft store for pillow forms, or do like I do, and scout the thrift stores! (Just be sure to give them a wash....'cause you just never know)

And I'm glad so many of you are entering the Dear Lillie giveaway! Isn't that dress the best? And I promise, none of those entries are my husband ;o)


Be sure to enter Blue Eyed Freckle's ADORABLE headband giveaway at Made, as well!

48 comments:

ReFabulous said...

Alright, Ms. Disney. You've done it again -- made a fantastic tutorial that bumped its way to the top of my favorite tutorial list... and you have so many lovely ones that are "favorites!" Thank you for (once again) sharing a fabulous tute with us! :)

Lizzy @ Lizzy Designs said...

So cute! Well done! I love butterflies. :)

Mama Thompson said...

I LOVE this...I'm adding it to my "if I ever have another baby and it's a girl she's getting a butterfly nursery" file!

dana said...

oh MY MY MY.
Disney, this is so pretty.
I absolutely love it.
Beautiful!
My favorite is the one yellow butterfly

Baiba Vigule said...

Oh, this is so nice!!! I suppose, this would be a great present for my MOM on Mother Day. Thanks a lot for idea!
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones.

Tonya said...

Awesome pillow idea! I thought they were so pretty on the scarf you made as well. Thanks for sharing this tutorial!

Beverly @ FlamingoToes.com said...

Ok. I'm in love. That is so pretty. I love that little yellow butterfly. You've done it again - but you're amazing so no surprise there. :)

Ai said...

awesome!

Emily said...

Love it!! :)

Amanda @ Serenity Now said...

I love this project!!! Figuring out how exactly to put together the pillow overlap part would be the hard part for me. Measuring/cutting has never been my strong suit. :s

Laura Webber said...

OK, I love the tutorial, but I especially love seeing pictures of your beautiful daughter happily sporting your creativity!

Bird said...

oooh the possibilities are endless here! :)

Love!

crafterhours said...

Just lovely! So, how many of those do you think I could crank out with the 6 hour Colin Firth Pride & Prejudice I just ordered? :)
-A

Eve said...

What a clever idea! I can hardly wait to make this. In fact, I'm heading home early this afternoon - perhaps I'll stop at the thrift store (for a pillow) and Hastings (for Jane Auten). ;)

darbishar said...

Love it, thanks for sharing!

Disney said...

Crafterhours: That version is the BEST!!! I pretty much have every line memorized. I seriously think it's better than the book.

the mama monster said...

oh so pretty! i love this more than i can even tell you. i can make myself one first right? as my own gift?

A Blissful Nest said...

OMG I love this. My daughter is obssessed with butterflys right now. I may have to attempt this.

Heather - Dollarstorecrafts.com said...

Ha ha, I see I'm not the only one who turns to Jane Austen in times of tedium!! :) For a 40 minute project, I'd go with something slightly trashier like Toddlers & Tiaras...

This is so pretty! You are a genius, as always!

Liz said...

I am loving felt lately. Thanks!

Laurel said...

I'm definitely going to make one for my daughter's room, its already themed with butterflies!

Jen said...

*gasp*! My friend's daughter is getting one for her first birthday. Precious and perfect. Thank-you!

Christie said...

So pretty and cute! As always:).

Jessica said...

Adorable!!! I love those little butterflies you made! Great idea!

Joanne said...

So creative! I'll be sure to include this in my week in review on Saturday!

inday_adin said...

Awe! It is a darling butterflies pillow. :) Thanks for sharing another amazing stuff! :)

Sachiko said...

Wow! This is sooo pretty! I'm usually not a butterfly person, but I love this one! You never cease to amaze me Disney!

kirstin & jordan said...

love this! what a terrific idea... :)

Katie said...

This is such a great idea! I've seen lots of fun tutes on making fabric or paper butterfly collections that are framed. I love the idea of translating that into a throw pillow. Love your subtle color combo as well. Lovely.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful pillow! FYI...you can use felt in a die cut machine if you have access to a die cutter. I am a teacher and my school has a butterfly die cut that looks almost exactly like the one you used. This is a super fast way to get those butterflies (or other images) cut out!

Katie Lynn said...

Disney just wanted to let you know that I decided to make my mom some throw pillows for her couch. She got it awhile ago and has not found any pillows to accessorize with. So this will be a great gift I think. But instead of making 2 butterfly pillows with 16 little butterflies each. I've decided to make one with 6 butterflies representing her children and then one with 8 caterpillars representing her grandchildren. Then in her card I think I will write something along the lines of "you once had 6 caterpillars of your own but you gave us the wings to fly, we only hope to lead by your wonderful example."

As always thank you for the inspiration.

TJ and Whitnee said...

This is adorable! I'd like to share a link on sewwhattoday.blogspot.com on May 6!

Lulux said...

It's a great idea!!!! I'm thinking about Xtmas ( I know it's a long way yet) I'm going to customize some pillows with christmas templates...

Kisses
☺☺☺

Alessia said...

i love it! :)

aluzza.81@libero.it

Bromeliad said...

1. Beautiful
2. Creative
3. Original

Mrs. Adventure said...

I love it, thanks for sharing. I'm doing a give-away so head over to my blog and comment to win!

www.mrs-adventure.com

House Queen said...

So cute girl! I am so glad I found your great blog! New follower for sure!!! Have a most fabulous day!!!

LaLa said...

omg you are toooo great I love this so much~~

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

You come up with the most fun projects! I love what you posted this week and this pillow is so perfect for spring! Thanks so much, I'll be linking.

Catherine Hansen Peart said...

Fabulous!!! I am just annoyed I didn't think of it first! :-))

Sarah said...

First time caller, long time listener...
That little fluorescent yellow butterfly in the corner impelled me to comment. I LOVE this blog!
Thank you for all of the inspiration - what a pleasure.

<3

Kamille said...

Totally love this pillow--very whimsical:)

Felt-o-rama said...

Oh - How I heart your pillow. Thanks for sharing such a cute tutorial!

Twyla Gariepy said...

oh ... my ... that is the sweetest hing ever. I showed my daughter and she's like "ooh! we could make that for my 'baby sister'" (her baby sister is actually the nickname for her 1.5 yo cousin). That is so precious, I am going to go scavenge in the bag of scraps to see what kind of palette I can come up with.

Andrekabu said...

Why, oh why, do I have no cute felt right now? I love this project SO much. Going to order felt NOW and make one Saturday. Thank you for the inpsiration!

Miss K said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE your stuff!!! Beautiful yet so easy! Very happy that I stumbled on your blog! I think I could be rather busy over the next few weeks... x

Brenda Doodles said...

What a great tutorial! This is beautiful, thank you for sharing.

Steph @ somewhatsimple said...

I love this pillow! I will be featuring it on crazydomestic.com on Tuesday, Aug 24th. Thanks for sharing!