Ring Pillow: from Mom's wedding dress!

Hello, crafty readers! So, since I'm on vacation in Texas in the moment and didn't want to leave you in the cyber-wasteland of no posts for 5 days, it's very fortunate that we have a guest blogger this week! I would like to introduce you to the first post from the "Mom of the Bride," (my super-crafty mommy!): Kate McClelland!

She taught me lots of what I know, and I know you'll all be impressed with the things she's doing for my wedding :-) Without further ado... here is Kate!

Kate:

Alicia and Adam are using a ring pillow in their ceremony to pass the wedding bands around during the ceremony for their guests to bless them prior to their exchanging them.

Since none of my three daughters wanted to use my wedding dress (and who could blame them!), we had decided that using it for ‘parts’ was a nice way to have something special (and OLD) in their weddings. For Alicia, the ring pillow is the winner of her parts! 

(*Note from Alicia: If you don't have a mom who is as super gracious as mine and is willing to cut up her wedding dress, you could do something similar with a special handkerchief, a communion dress, an old lace veil, or just some pretty fabric you bought from the store*)


You will need:


- 2 9 1/2" squares of fabric for the pillow (or several squares of different fabrics to layer, as I've done below
- Polyester quilting batting or poly-fill pillow stuffing
- Ribbon of your choice
- Two buttons
- Lace or lace overlay from a wedding dress (or handkerchief, etc.)

A ring pillow is traditionally about 8 inches square. I could not find a pillow form of this size, except in already made ring pillows for between $20 and $40 at the craft store in the wedding section.

But….being at least as crafty as my daughter, I had left over batting sitting in a drawer, so cut up several 8 inch squares of that to make a form. You want it thick enough to be pillow like.

 (*You can also buy batting at the fabric store for a small amount of money if you don't have any lying around, or stuff the pillow case with loose cotton filling*)

My dress had an overlay of chiffon, so I cut the satin and chiffon separately into 9 ½ squares (to allow for seam allowance), and then sewed the chiffon to the satin so it would not slip while making  it into the pillow.

Then sew the now two pieces together (right, or chiffon, sides facing each other), leaving most of one side open to insert the pillow form. Turn the pillowcase inside out, so now the chiffon pieces are facing out, and the seams are hidden on the inside. 

Insert the pillow form and slip stitch the open sides together.

Next I took two buttons and put one on each side of the pillow and sewed through the pillow connecting them, pulling tightly to create that ‘pillow-like’ indentation, and also a place to attach the ribbons to hold the rings.


Now I was ready to hand stitch lace from the wedding dress onto the top of the pillow.

I cut 4 pieces of ribbon to about 36 inches long (so there was some nice length to fall off the pillow after the rings were tied on). Cut the ribbon at an angle, and dab the ends with clear nail polish to prevent the edges from fraying.

 Once the polish is dry, you are ready to tie the ribbons around the button.

There you go! Easy as can be.

Total cost for the ring pillow:  60 cents in ribbon.

Sentimental value: priceless


*Thanks, Mom!*