Saturday, October 8, 2011

West Elm Origami Inspired Pillow (No Sew)


              

I was scanning the West Elm site last night and saw their Origami Pillow.

I thought, I can make that!  I had just purchased some felt material by the yard at JoAnn's Fabric at the sale price of 2.99 a yard and decided to try it out.


 Tutorial:

  1. I used a yard of fabric (I didn't actually use the whole yard but I used a great deal of it.) 
  2. A hot glue gun with glue sticks.
  3. Whatever you are going to use for your pillow form. I used an ugly old pillow I had laying around.
  4. Some of that heat and press no sew adhesive stuff.
  5. This cost about 3 dollars and change because the only thing I had to purchase was the felt and it was on sale!
  6.  
     

I started out measuring around my pillow form to see how big to make the cover. I left an extra 2 inches or so around each side.  Cut out the fabric. I then proceeded to figure out where to lay the no sew adhesive by using my level/laser. You can't see it (in the pic to the side) but it shoots out a nifty little laser.  For some odd reason my mother kept entering and exiting the room while snickering.

 I kept trying to figure out what the heck she was snickering about.  Finally, after being laughed at several times, she proceeds to tell me people in the sewing world use these cutting mats that have all of these little measuring things so you can decide where to cut your fabric at etc.....  It apparently makes it easier. Who knew?
Here's that cutting mat thingy!
This straight edge allowed me to measure precisely from the edge of the fabric in to where I wanted my seams and line up the heat n bond (which is the strip of white you see) so that my pillow is not wa.ber. jawled- adj. Being crooked or off center.  You probably won't find that word in a dictionary. It's apparently only published in the, " Dictionary According to My Mom."
To figure out where exactly I wanted my heat-n-bond stuff I  used this tool (pictured above, I think it's called a straight edge) and lined it up. You don't need any of the tools I used. In fact you probably already know how to do this, but I'm not a sewing person so this is all new to me.

Anyhow, line it all up and add the heat n bond to where you want your pillow seams to be at. Make sure you leave one end open to insert your pillow.  Flip your felt over and iron it all together. It doesn't matter what side it's on cause felt looks the same front and back.

The ironing  may take a little longer due to the fabric being thicker. I used the wool setting for the felt and it ironed just fine. I know i was worried some people were afraid the felt might singe.

After the adhesive is sticking adequately,  turn the pillow right side out. Flip the ends of the side you left open in on themselves, gluing them with the hot glue gun. 

Folding the open end of my pillow in on itself and gluing with hot glue gun.
Now you have your pillow and the fun part begins! Wooohooo!  So my pillow ended up being a little over 15 inches long. I cut out 3" by 3" squares and 6 of them fit across one row.  Take your square and fold it diagonally,  iron it down the middle to make a permanent crease. Open your square and fold one corner from opposite sides, meeting in the middle, and hot glue them in place. Now, starting from one corner, begin placing your origami folds. Work from one side of the pillow, in rows, til you reach the other side. Glue in place.  Here are some pics to give you an idea:




























38 comments:

  1. Nice knock-off...great job. Would love it if you would link this up to our Rockin' link party going on now at RoCa and Company. Here is the link: http://rocaandcompany.blogspot.com/2011/10/you-rock-6.html. Come and show off what you got. Hope to see you there...

    Remember...YOU ROCK!!

    Carmen @ RoCa and Company
    www.rocaandcompany.blogspot.com

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  2. Wow! Great job. Looks just like the original. Love a good hack! Thanks for adding to my link party. Hope you'll add more projects in the coming weeks! A new party starts each Thursday.

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  3. Love it! Don't you just love all the ideas floating around the Web to "borrow"? lol

    Thanks for linking to Time Travel Thursday. Hope to see you again this week.

    Blessings,
    Liz @ The Brambleberry Cottage
    http://thebrambleberrycottage.blogspot.com/

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  4. This is such a cool idea! I spotted you over at Christinas Adventures. Never seen this done before, it has a great effect!

    I'd love for you to link this up to my link part, Your Whims Wednesday! http://mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/2011/11/your-whims-wednesday-31-and-features.html

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  5. Wow great job. This turned out really nice.

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  6. It certainly looks wonderful -love a glue gun! Lou

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  7. This is my kind of project, no sew! Your pillow turned out great.

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  8. LOVE this pillow!!

    I featured this on my blog today:
    http://christinasadventures.com/2011/11/sunday-features-45.html

    I also pinned it!
    http://pinterest.com/christinasadven/20-below-features/

    Make sure you grab a "featured" button from my blog!! :)

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  9. Still think this pillow is awesome :) so I featured it on my blog tonight! Thanks so much for linking up to Your Whims Wednesday :) Come check it out and grab a button! http://mygirlishwhims.blogspot.com/2011/11/your-whims-wednesday-32-and-features.html

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  10. Love the pillow, great knock off! I featured it at So Very Creative today. Thanks for linking up, make sure to grab a button!
    http://soverycreative.blogspot.com/2011/11/west-elm-origami-inspired-pillow.html

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  11. Hi there!

    Well, I'm hooked on the Delicious Stacks!!
    And wanting to share some of my posts with those subscribers, I also included a post of yours.

    Here's the link, should you be interested:

    http://delicious.com/stacks/view/R27cTc

    My best,
    -susan

    Love Where You Live
    www.lovewhereyouliveblog.com

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  12. Hi Susan!
    Thanks so much! I'll head on over and take a look!

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  13. I loved this so much that...

    YOU'VE BEEN FEATURED!

    http://makinglemonadeblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/refresh-your-nest-friday-10.html

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  14. Fantastic job! I love it!
    Proud to me your newest follower. Cheers! Gen from
    www.cabinfeveredgem@blogspot.com

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  15. awww, thanks:) I'm going to head on over and check out your blog:)

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  16. Very clever idea and Brillant work. Will come back to see more from you.thanks for sharing with us

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  17. Thank you, Daffy. That is very kind of you:)

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  18. This turned out really well, had to pin it! I'll have to put it on my to try list.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know how I missed your comment, but thank you! So nice of you to say.

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    2. i featured your pillow in my tutorial for the sewn version, come and grab a button if you like xxx

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    3. Thank you. That is really sweet of you:) I'll do that!

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  19. Um oh my heck! SO CUTE!!

    Hope you'll come link this up at our first ever linky party!
    http://classyclutter.blogspot.com/2012/02/spotlight-saturday-1-our-first-linky.html

    Mallory @ Classy Clutter

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  20. LOVE this idea, and you pulled it off beautifully!

    I would love it if you would link this up at Feature Friday FREE-FOR-ALL!

    http://www.fivedaysfiveways.com/2012/02/feature-friday-free-for-all-6-little.html

    Hope to see you soon!

    ~Abbie

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  21. hi again, it would be great if you could link this up at http://twiggstudios.blogspot.com/ i love this project xxx

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  22. Oh this is too awesome...I am so going to do this!!! Great tutorial

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Brooke! It really is so simple. And a lot of fun to make!

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  23. Just letting you know I'll be featuring your awesome pillow on my facebook page today! I hope you'll be back to link up again tonight! : )

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  24. Oops!

    Wasn't logged in!

    You'll be featured on the Five days...5 ways facebook page! : )

    ~Abbie (Five days...5 ways)

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    Replies
    1. OH! How exciting! Thank you! I need to set up a FB page for Design fluff, so I can be more involved. I'll be completing more projects soon, and will be back to link up! Thanks:)

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  25. You did a wonderful job on this. Thanks for sharing. I discovered you on LambAround and I'm now following, I would love for you to follow me back.

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  26. WOW. That turned out great. Really great tutorial. I love all the pictures.

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  27. GREAT Pillow! Thank you for the tutorial. I think I could do that! 'Hopping over from Flashback Friday. -Marci @ Stone Cottage Adventures

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