Projects

Gathered Flower Pillow

Created By:

Meredith Daniel

Skill Level: Advanced

Hi there! Its Meredith of Olivia Jane Handcrafted, and I recently had the chance to show off Janome’s Gathering Foot in the Presser Feet Face Off. I made a pillow with a double-ruffle edge that was created with this foot, and I received several messages asking for the math behind the gathering. I thought a project using this foot would be the perfect thing to show you how you can use the Gathering Foot for any number of projects, but the project I’m showcasing today is a super elevated round ruffle pillow. Its over the top and truly a stunner!

Janome Supplies Required

Janome Gathering Foot (there are different versions suitable for different machines)

Fabric and Notions Required

   2 yards Liberty lawn (alternatively, 2.5+ yards 44” fabric)

   1/2 yard quilting cotton (will be visible on back of pillow)

   12 oz bag of fiber fill

   Covered button or whatever you’d like at the center of the pillow

   Needle and thread for stitching button and closing up pillow

   Pencil or marking tool and ruler

Instructions

 Before we get into the main project, I’m going to show you how to do a little gathering math. I promise its not hard, but planning ahead will ensure you don’t come up short on a project!

To find the percentage of shrinkage that occurs when the fabric is gathered, you must test out the fabric you are going to use for your project because different weights and stitch lengths and tension will absolutely change the degree of gathering. I should have used the identical fabric I used for the project that will be showcased after this, but I’ll go over the differences when we get there.

 

Begin with a 10” long strip of fabric. If you are planning to fold it over so that its doubled, you need to cut a piece wide enough and go ahead and press in in half lengthwise. My test piece is about 5x10” folded over, so it is 2.5x10” folded.


 

To use the Gathering Foot on my Continental M7, I attached the foot, then went to the stitch settings for my standard straight stitch and adjusted the Stitch Length to 4.0 and the Tension to 7.0. The Stitch Length and Tension you choose will affect the degree of gathering, so you can play around until you find what looks good to you.

 

I ran my test strip through the machine, and then measured the new, shortened length of the fabric. It was now only 6” long, which tells me that the fabric length will only be 60% of the original length once it is gathered.

6/10 = 0.6

So If I were to want to put a gathered strip around the edge of a 10” square pillow, I would take the perimeter (40”), and divide it by the percentage above, and it should give me the full length I will need to cut in order to achieve the amount of gathered fabric. See example below:

40/0.6 = 66.66

In order to get the perimeter of the pillow, I will cut 67” of fabric, and then gather with the same settings I tested with.

Note that it is better to cut extra length because when attaching gathers, its much simpler to pin and sew them more closely than to come up short. Always err on the more generous side.

If this seems like a lot to read, try it out at home, and I think it will become clearer!

 

 

Time: 3-4 hours

Difficulty: Advanced

Finished Size: 18” round pillow

We are making a gorgeous pillow with gathered ruffles stealing the whole show! The finished pillow looks like a huge flower, and this floral obsessed girl is all about it! I’m using Liberty Tana lawn and sewing on Janome’s Continental M7 which is a whopper of a machine that handles delicate fabrics beautifully.

Even if you follow exactly what I do here, I still want you to test the fabric because your machine and your foot may alter the percentage of gathering!

 

Test fabric:

We will be using 4.5” wide fabric that is folded over and pressed. Test a strip 4.5x10” (folded over) with the following settings: Stitch Length 4.0 and Tension 7.0

My fabric gathered down to 4.2” from 10” so I know that 4.2/10=.42 and, yes, you do need to measure exactly here because we are going to have so much length, that if I were to round it down to only 4, I would have a huge discrepancy. So measure accurately when you are testing!

To make this pillow, I know I will need 285.69” of gathered length, so I need 680.2” inches of fabric to gather because: 285.69/.42=680.2” If you have a different percentage, divide 285.69 by that number to determine the length you will need, and remember round up when you cut. All of the cutting measurements you see below are based on the exact pillow that I made.

 

Cut:

   If using Liberty lawn, cut 13 4.5xWOF (width of fabric) strips

   If using 44” fabric, cut 16 4.5xWOF strips

   From quilting cotton, cut 2 18” squares

 

Prepare the pillow:

I don’t have a 18” circle template, but its easy to cut circles with just a few tricks! Fold your fabric in half and press. Fold in half again and press. And finally, fold again so that it looks like right triangle and press.

 

Open and you will have a clearly visible center point and 8 equal sections. Mark the center point using a pencil. Using your ruler, line it up along each crease and mark each 1” away from the center. On the creases that reach each corner, only mark out to 9” from the center on each.

 

Refold the fabric down to the right triangle with the pencil marks visible. Using a plate or something round and large enough to reach, line up the rounded edge with the 9” tick marks you made and trace the rounded edge with a pencil. Take a peek to make sure it looks right and that everything is lined up. If it is, take your rotary cutter and cut along that rounded line. When you open your fabric, you should have a perfect circle. Use this circle as a template to cut out the second circle which will be used for the back of the pillow.

 

You can use your plate or bowl for this next part, or you can just eyeball it. Beginning with the 8 marks right outside the center dot, lightly mark out the circle. It should have a 2” diameter. Do the same with the dots another inch out, which will form a 4” circle. Continue to do this all the way out to the edge because we will use these circles as a stitching guide when we attach the ruffle. Set aside.

 Helpful hint: when calculating circumference of a circle, remember πd (3.14 x diameter). I have already done this for you on this project.

 

Prepare the strips:

Now we will combine all of our strips into one single strip. To reduce bulk, attach at a 45 degree angle like so: place them right sides together, and orient the short ends to be perpendicular so that you can sew a 45° seam by sewing from corner to corner.

 

Cut away excess, so that you only have about 1/4” of seam allowance, press all seams open.

 

At one end, fold the fabric right sides together, and using a rounded edge (I used a small bowl), mark a quarter circle. Sew along the line and trim seam allowance. Press. This just makes a neat end so we won’t see any of the selvedge in the center of our pillow.

 

Fold and press entire length of strip in half, wrong sides together.

 

Gather fabric:

Attach your gathering foot and adjust the settings (Stitch Length 4.0, Tension 7.0). Gather the entire length of the strip. You should have just about 286” of total length to work with, but if it is just a little more, that’s okay!

 

 

Attach your AD foot (walking foot) and reset to normal sewing settings to prepare for the next step.

 

Add gathered fabric to pillow front:

This is the super fun part! Working counterclockwise, we are going to pin the ruffle to our marked pillow front beginning at the outermost circle. Pin every couple of inches until you make it around the circle. Do NOT cut away the excess.

 

Take the pinned pillow front and the excess, and using a 1/4” (or 3/8” if you prefer) seam allowance, sew the gathers down to the pillow front. Backstitch at the beginning and end.

 

Once you reach the beginning, pin around the next circle. Keep in mind that this is technically more of a swirl than a true circle since we are continuing to use the same strip of gathers. I used 1/8” of the circle to gradually work my way down to the second circle so I could avoid a harsh transition. Continue to pin, sew, pin, sew, until you work your way to the center of the pillow. If you do have some excess at the end, you can layer around the center a bit so its a bit fuller. If, somehow, you do come up short, don’t sweat it! You can create another gathered strip and just continue on. The business of the design can cover flaws, so don’t feel defeated if this happens!

 

Attach pillow back:

Sew pillow back to the pillow front, right sides together using a 3/8” seam allowance, and backstitching at the beginning and end. Leave a 4-5” opening for stuffing. Tuck in the gathered edge so you don’t catch it as you go. Pin if it is helpful to you.

 

Turn right side out. Stuff with fiber fill, then use needle and thread to hand stitch the opening closed.

 

Finish pillow:

Finally, make a covered button in the fabric of your choosing, or use a favorite button from your stash and attach to the center of your gathered flower pillow. You can *carefully* insert your needle to the center back of the cushion from behind the button and make a few passes back to front to create a light tuft if you want. That’s what I’ve done here because I like the shape it gives.


 

Now all that’s left to do is step back and appreciate your hard work! There are much simpler ways to make pillows, but you did a lot of math, gathered a ton of fabric, and made yourself a seriously luxe cushion. Do be proud of your effort and share a picture with the rest of us! You can tag me, @thefooshe and @janomeamerica and use #janomemakes so the rest of us can applaud your good work!

 

Happy sewing!

             

Everyone is Talking about Gathered Flower Pillow
Reviews


Tako
Beautiful
Wednesday, November 23, 2016

cpindzola
Around the Table Dresden Placemats
Saturday, December 17, 2016

I like the concept, but the directions are "sloppy." Nowhere in the supply list does it mention the felt or the batting (how much?). Also, I would never use a high loft batting in a placemat, or a table runner, as I think that it would be too unstable for a glass. The next time I make these, I will cut out the batting (I use flannel) and spray baste it to the wrong side of the Dresden plate before I put the Dresden plate on the felt to cut out. I have not yet washed the finished placemat, and am hoping that the single layer of felt does not curl up, or become distorted after washing/drying.
Txmaid
Fun Great Gift!
Tuesday, February 21, 2017

MargieARK
Teatime Quilted Tablecloth
Friday, February 24, 2017

I made this today but your cutting directions need to be changed. You only need 4 of color 1 and color 3 4.5 squares for the triangles. Also the inner border, you only need 2 cuts as WOF is long enough to cut each in half to fit the sides.
MickelSews
Great Machine
Wednesday, August 30, 2017

I've had this machine for only a week now. I bought it used from a lady who makes her own clothes, but she no longer needed the machine. During the purchase, she noted that she is almost sad that it's better to give it away because of how well the machine performed. (I also bought it along side a computerized machine of another brand.} She demoed the machine for us, showing it worked and gave us everything (including the box it came in!) She took amazing care of this machine. I have used it a few times now, and the directions for threading were easy to follow (albeit my hands are quite large so the lower looper was a pain, but that is no fault to the machine or brand.) And I recommend this machine to anyone who wants to learn to serge and wants a machine that can grow with them. I will happily use this machine time and time again.
rvstan
S9 Review
Sunday, February 25, 2018

I love, love, love my S9! It's sews and embroiders beautifully and it's simplicity of use amazes me. I would recommend this machine for both a beginner and an experienced seamstress. If I would ask anything of Janome it would be to upgrade the programming to run a larger hoop size. I understand that it can't get much wider but there is most definitely room for it to go longer. That is the only limitation of this machine.
pjmnana
PJMNana
Monday, February 26, 2018

I purchased a Memorycraft 15000 a few years ago and it was the best purchase I ever made! This machine can do just about anything you would would ever want! I love the capability of using the Acuedit app to set up my embroidery pattern on my Ipad and then download it to the machine! I love how my embroidery looks upon completion and I love all the good lighting it has to light up your workspace. That way you don’t need to worry about where to set up your machine. It also has plenty of room to do machine embroidery on any size quilts! There are many decorative stitches from which to choose that are outstanding! It’s hard to choose which one to use! There are so many great features it is hard to decide what I love the most. If you want to buy only one machine to last a lifetime, I would recommend this one!
KLWash
S9 Review
Sunday, February 24, 2019

The S9 is amazing. I learned to sew by hand when I was just 5 and in my grandmothers way as she was quilting. I took seeing classes in high school until they would no longer let me sign up. The S9 makes me appreciate my current skills as well as motivate me to want to learn more. This machine is awesome.
SewSueMe2002
Horizon Memory Craft 15000
Thursday, November 19, 2020

My Janome Horizon Memory Craft 15000 is fantastic! I love, love, love this machine! When I came across the Eye for and Eye embroidery design today, I wanted to make it. However, the embroidery file is missing. Nothing downloads when I select the download button. Please help!
Jillfmischo
Treat Bag fun!
Monday, August 16, 2021

I made the Halloween treat bag for my new granddaughter and I’m sure it will last for years. No embroidery machine so I appliquéd the lettering. Need a little more skirt fabric for a better gathered look, and I used thin double-bias tape for the skirt hem, over edge stitch on skirt sides. I’m pleased with my results!
elenaz
Very helpful tutorial
Wednesday, October 25, 2023

I want to say thank you for teaching me this method of applique. I was able to do it with a small letters. This method is the best so far from all of those I've seen and tried.
plonkar
So useful
Thursday, November 30, 2023

I'd like to express my gratitude for teaching me this appliqué method. I successfully applied it with small letters, and, so far, it's the most effective among all the methods I've seen and tried.

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