DIY Applique Bunting pillow

When I re-designed Carsons Room, I made him a few accent pillows using a simple applique method. Today I'm sharing how you can make one, and how easy it really is!

When I first decided to try and applique something, I was pretty intimidated, but after doing some research, I realized it wasn't so hard! I could even sew it using my super simple Singer. After some practice, I now even make special appliqued Birthday T-shirts for my kids to wear on their big day, and they love them so much! It's turned into a fun tradition.

I'm going to show you how I made this applique bunting pillow in the photo above. The supplies you need are:

Fabrics of choice for pillow and for applique
Wonder-Under paper backed fusible web
Fabric Glue
Bakers twine or trim of some sort

The first thing you are going to do is cut the fabric out for the pillow. I cut mine 18x18 inches to fit an 18" form. Then you are going to fuse the Wonder Under to the back of the fabric you will be using for your applique. (Simply follow the directions on the box, but just so you get a general idea of how it works, you fuse the rough side to the fabric using a dry, hot iron. The Wonder Under has a paper backing to it, so when you are ready to fuse your applique fabric to your pillow face, you simply peel away the paper and iron again.)

After the fabric is fused with the Wonder Under, simply cut out your desired shape. The fabric I used was from Michael Miller that had a bunting design already, so I just cut out the individual flags. You could always make yourself a flag template and use it as a guide on your fabric of choice.

Peel off the paper backing on each shape and place them in the desired position on your pillow face. Once all the shapes have been positioned correctly, fuse them to the pillow face using your hot iron once again. (Make sure to check the box for detailed instructions and temperature settings!)

Once your shapes are securely fused to the pillow front, you are now going to stitch around the edges of each shape to prevent fraying and to give it a nice finished look. I used a simple straight stitch, but you can use any stitch you like. If it is an item that you will be washing often, I recommend using a zig zag stitch. Play with the width and length of the stitch to get the desired look you want. The shorter the width, the tighter the stitch will be and will resemble more of an embroidered look. I use the zig zag stitch for my kids t-shirts.

The last step is to secure your string for the flag bunting. I used bakers twine, but you could use any ribbon or trim you like. I simply glued it in place using a permanent fabric glue.

Now that your pillow face is complete, simply sew together your pillow as desired! Here's another applique pillow I made for Carsons room using an initial template. I simply created my letter on a photo editing software (like Photoshop Elements or pic monkey) then traced it on the fabric before cutting it out.