Holiday Honey Buns
I loved Amy Butler's Honey Bun Poufs pattern at first site! I've had them on my "To Do List" with visions of how they would look in my bedroom made out of Amy's colorful prints. But, with the holidays approaching the idea came to me that they would look great made up in Christmas prints. There are 2 options for making the poufs. The first option uses six coordinating prints, the second uses just one print. I quickly scanned the pattern back and decided on the six prints version, so I grabbed up some half yard cuts from one of our larger Christmas collections to make a medium size pillow.
Being
in a hurry, it wasn't until I actually sat down to take a look at the pattern back
that I realized how large the pillows would be when made up. The Medium Pouf is 24" diameter and the Large Pouf is 30". Taking a closer look at the pattern back, I
saw that it called for cotton canvas, quilt batting, Polystyrene beads and a
zipper. I couldn't imagine why I would need all of these items until I took a
closer look at the directions.
The poufs can be made using 44" wide quilting weight fabric OR 54" wide mid-weight Home Dec fabric. If you're using 44" wide quilting fabric you'll also need 60" wide 10 oz cotton canvas.
That
was when I realized the Poufs are made with three layers when using quilting
weight fabric. For each slice of the circle, you will layer your print
fabric, the batting and the "liner" of canvas. Not only that, it also calls for
a zipper in the side (don't go there). This was a little more involved than I
thought it was going to be, not to mention a challenge to my sewing skills and
my patience. I guess I couldn't get past having to cut out 90 pieces - 30 each from
fabric, quilt batting and canvas to complete a pillow. The canvas liner is
really to keep the Polystyrene beads contained.
When choosing your fabric:
Keep
in mind how the prints used for each slice will look when put together. I laid
out my uncut fabric when it was folded and arranged it so that the tones of the
prints alternated well. I kept the same order for the prints and just repeated
them around the circle. You can see from the examples below how a single print
will look and how a large distinct print works when you match up the fabric's pattern
when cutting out your slices.
Since I had set out to make them in a Holiday theme and they would only be used for a short period of time, I decided to just simplify the pattern a bit. Dropping the batting, canvas liner and zipper, I only needed the top and bottom pieced circles. This was still 30 different pieces, but by layering the fabric and using a rotary cutter it went fairly quickly. The pieces aren't a straight cut so it took a little practice since this is only the second time I've used a rotary cutter.
The directions call for sewing the 15 pieces together in groups of five first. This didn't go as fast as it sounds, since I needed to iron the seam over each time I added another slice so everything would lay flat when I top stitched it. The first two groups of five went together just fine, but after I added in the final group and turned the finished side over the points didn't quite line up in the center. I ended up taking my seam ripper and picking out some of the stitches to make it lay flatter. You top stitch over the final seam anyway so I just continued sewing across a little bit further onto the opposite seam to make sure the center was secure.
It didn't
turn out perfect, but I figure that's why you put a button in the center. Another
way to cover this is to applique on a flat circle of fabric in place of the
button if the mismatch bothers you. Amy designed the Gum Drop Pillow pattern this
way and it gives it a more finished look. One more thing, make sure you have
the heavy weight sewing machine needles as recommended. I didn't think I would
need one since I was only sewing through
one layer of cotton prints without the batting and canvas pieces. I was wrong
and ended up breaking a needle when top stitching the groups together.
With both
halves complete, I sewed them together leaving about a 5 inch opening to turn
the pillow inside out. I did follow the directions for attaching loops of
ribbon to the top and bottom halves to form the tuft. I also opted to use poly
fiber for filling instead of the Polystyrene
beads.
I've used Polystyrene beads once before when I made my "Kitty" Gum Drop Pillow pattern. It calls for fiber filling, but I wanted to make a soft and squishy version so my cat could lay on it. Now let me tell you that was a daunting task. These beads are small, full of static, and they stick to everything. You'll have them stuck to your fingers, your arms, on your clothes, in your hair, they'll even jump on anyone or anything that happens to walk by while you're doing this. They're very fond of cat whiskers too. For cleanup, I suggest using a vacuum to pick up any strays because they won't just brush off your fingers into the trash. And trust me, you'll be finding them in all kinds of places for many weeks to come.
When the pillow was finally stuffed and sewn shut, I loved the final result. I hadn't purchased the 2 ½ inch covered buttons since this larger size wasn't carried in my local fabric/craft stores and I didn't have time to search them out. Standing back and taking a look at the finished "Pouf", I decided to add a fabric bow/flower to the top instead. Cluck Cluck Sew has a great tutorial and I've been waiting to make one of these flowers for a while now.
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