DIY Ring Bearer's Pillow

In terms of ring bearers, Tom and I have a variety of suitable young boys to play the role, but we chose Tom's oldest nephew to do the job. With such an important job, carrying the "rings" down the aisle, a ring bearer needs a proper pillow. That was where I ran into trouble. I wanted a pillow that incorporated my wedding colors of purple and green, but also incorporated my nautical theme. The problem is, almost every purple pillow I found was either lavender or dark purple, and every nautical pillow I found was basically a white pillow with shells glued on. Not to mention, the average price of a ring bearer pillow ranged between $20 and $30, not an amount that I am willing to pay for an item that will only make it's appearance during the aisle procession, and with the temperament of little boys, could end up drop kicked. I opted to make my own. I looked at various pillows online to get my inspiration, and you can see what I came up with. Now to attempt to give directions...

You will need:

• 1/3 yard of your base fabric, I used an ivory cotton/poly blend with sparkles
• 1/3 yard of your accent color
• 1 yard of thin ribbon
• Flat shell or starfish
• Fiberfill
• Scissors
• Needle and thread or a sewing machine
• Paper
• Ruler
• Tape
• Pencil
• Hot glue gun
• Pins

What you do: 

1. First things first, you need to make a pattern. For my pillow I used white paper to create an 11" square. Just tape sheets of paper together to make things big enough and use a ruler to measure your sides and everything.
2. Next, you will need to make a pattern for the sashes that go across the pillow. I decided to make my sashes 4" wide, so I started by marking 4" from the top and bottom corners on the right and left side of my pattern, then I connected lines to make an X pattern. 
3. I then used another sheet of paper to trace one of the sashes of the X to create a pattern for my purple fabric. The way I designed my pattern was I placed one long side of the pattern the fold of the fabric, and I added 1/2" to the other long side to allow for seam allowance. 
4. Once your patterns are designed, you will need to cut two squares of your base color, you will also need to cut both sashes of your X. What I did is I cut one out, then I turned the pattern over and cut the other out so it went in the opposite direction. 
5. With the right sides together, stitch the long side of each of your sashes, and reverse. I ironed mine so that they would lay flat. 
6. Pin your sashes in an "X" shape to the right side of one of your base squares. I ran a quick 1/4" seam around the edges of the square to hold everything in place.
7. Pin the right sides together of both squares, and stitch together with a 5/8" seam allowance. Remember to leave a hole for the stuffing. Reverse.
8. Stuff the pillow good and firm, and stitch the opening closed. 
9. Take your ribbon, and tie it tightly in a knot around the center of the "X", this will gather and pleat both sashes.
10. Hot glue the shell on top of the knot, this will secure everything, and you are done!

I apologize that this project is a bit more complex and involved than previous projects, but in reality, it is fairly easy to do. It took me about two hours to make mine, and that includes eating dinner in the middle. The end result is beautiful, and the best part is that all the fabric only cost me about $3!