Cute Fall Owl Pillow You Can Make with Fabric Scraps

Learn how to sew a cute fall owl pillow using fabric scraps, raw edge appliqué, and a simple quilt-as-you-go background. It’s a fun way to use those leftover strips and scraps while adding a little handmade fall to your home.

Fall Owl Pillow Tutorial

Apparently, fall decorating is better when there are owls involved.

This little owl pillow is one of those projects where you can dig through your scraps, make a bit of a mess, and end up with something really cute. My kind of project.

The background is made with quilt-as-you-go strips, so you’re piecing and quilting at the same time. Then the owl, branch and leaves are added with raw edge appliqué. Nothing terribly fussy—and those little scraps you’ve been saving finally have somewhere to go.

Change up the colors, make your owl a little quirky, or pull out all those oranges, golds and browns that have been hanging around your stash. Once the pillow is finished, toss it on a chair or couch and call the fall decorating done.

Well… until you decide you need another pumpkin.

This pillow gives you a chance to play with a couple of techniques without committing to a whole quilt.

You’ll use quilt-as-you-go for the background and raw edge appliqué for the owl and leaves. The original uses a straight stitch around the appliqué pieces, but a buttonhole or zigzag stitch works too.

It’s also wonderfully scrap friendly. The background uses fabric strips around 22 inches long, while the owl, wings, leaves and branch can all be cut from smaller scraps.

Make Your Owl Your Own

Don’t feel like your owl has to match mine.

This is a great place to use the slightly weird scraps that don’t seem to belong anywhere else. Mix prints. Give your owl wild wings. Make the leaves scrappy. Go bright instead of traditional fall colors.

He’s an owl. I don’t think he’s going to complain.

Materials Needed:

Therm O Web HeatnBond® Fusible lite Adhesive

Owl templates Owl template Download    

Fabric strips in different widths at least 20 long

Muslin fabric the size you are finishing your pillow front at

Batting to match the size of the muslin fabric

Fabric for the pillow back

Fabric scraps for the owl, leaves, wings, and branch

You’ll need fabric strips for the background– measuring around 22″ long and fabric scraps for the owls, leaves and branch.

I used the raw edge applique method after fusing the pieces down with Thermoweb’s HeatnBond Lite

Fall Owl Pillow Tutorial~

1)  Using the quilt as you go method  lay one fabric strip in the center of the muslin and batting layer this piece will lay directly on top of the batting

2)  Lay a new piece of fabric- right sides facing on top of the fabric strip

3)  Sew in place along the side

4)  Open the fabric and iron

5)  Lay the next strip on top overlapping the edge of the previous strip and sew in place

6)  Continue with this method until the whole muslin and batting top is covered

7)  Sew 1/4 from the seams of the strips for a quilted look

8)  Trace the templates for the owls on the HeatnBond ® Fusible Lite 

9)  Follow instructions on the package and fuse the template to the fabric and then cut out pieces

10)  Lay in place on top of the pillow front, fuse them in place and stitch around the shapes to secure. I used a straight stitch, but a button hole or zig zag stitch would work just fine.

11) Finish the back of the pillow with your favorite closure type

Just in case you are curious– here is the wall hanging where the owls are visiting from:

Want to make it or download the owl and branch applique templates?

Owl Templates Download 

More Fall Projects You Can Sew

This is the perfect season to sew some fun projects for the chilly weather that’s coming. Enjoy some leaves, owls, pumpkins and more.

Fall Table Runners

This collection of fall table runners is great for adding some fun to your table tops! Perfect for the holiday dinners too.

Pumpkin Table Runner

Sew up some different sized pumpkins for this table runner.

No Sew Pumpkins

This is the best trick or hack for making a pumpkin and it’s no sew!

Ghost Mug Rug

These are the spookiest mug rugs out there. Time to grab your scraps and start sewing.