amy butler gum drop pillow & the filling ?

hi there..

i just made the amy butler gum drop pillow and used fiber fill as the stuffing. it has turned out great but was wondering if anyone else has used another material for the stuffing to make the pillow stiffer. I would LOVE to be able to use this as an ottoman but it really needs to be stiffer..

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

When I made my pillows I read a whole bunch of blog posts on how to make them more economical to make, as they do take up a lot of filling!  In the end, I followed a bunch of suggestions about using fiber fill around the edges, and fabric scraps in the center.  The fabric scraps add a nice weight to the pillows, and I always have more scraps than I can use hanging around the sewing room!  The pillows function as ottomans nicely. 

oh that's a great idea...i certainly have plenty of scraps..i'll have to try that.

I've been wanting to make one myself, and have been researching the filling.  I think I'll use foam as the center, using 4" thick pieces a few inches smaller than the diameter of the pillow, and stacking them in the center, then use fiberfill to fill the outermost areas.  If you wanted to use it as an ottoman, you could even use a circular cut of wood inside the bottom part to weight it down.

I actually used a bunch of old clothes (e.g., sweatshirts) and duct taped them into a ball. It gave me solid center and had to use much less fiber fill.

if you havent tried this project, you should..it is really easy to sew and fun (and LARGE!!) 

i definitely think foam will have to be a factor in my next one..the circular wood suggestion is a great one, as is the duct tape trick!! (can fix everything w/duct tape huh!) 

i put an entire 5lb box of fiberfill and it is definitely a nice looking pillow but not near the stability i was hoping for as i really like the shape as extra seating...

I have to find someway to add this thread to my favorites because I was having a similar problem.  I'm suppose to make samples for the quilt shop I work at, but I was coming up with about $80 for the cost of the filling! I knew I had to be doing something wrong.

What a genius idea to use duck taped clothes or foam!

Thank you ladies. I will not be able to complete this project!

I haven't made this but I've made several dog beds and i have never bought fiber fill. I use pillows - either cheap new ones or when I buy new pillows for our bed I wash the old ones and put them up on my closet shelf to use when I need stuffing!  The dogs have never complained

Hi I haven't actually made this for myself yet but for larger projects that require a lot of stuffing I usually resort to using duvets......we have some very cheap stores in the uk and you can buy a kingsize duvet for approx £10, that is an awful lot of hollowfibre filling for the money and you can either pack it in really tightly for firmness or mix it with some foam in the centre for stability......will keep an eye on this thread for more ideas