“I don’t paint dreams or nightmares, I paint my own reality.”
― Frida Kahlo

I have enjoyed learning more about Frida Kahlo as I have looked as her photos and paintings as inspiration for this pillow. She was a stunning and clever woman, and seemed to accept life for the way it was. I can only hope that I do the same.

In preparation for this Frida Kahlo Pillow, I made and posted the patterns for seven new roses, a crown of roses. From these patterns, five became part of Frida’s flower crown. You can choose whichever you prefer, but I used patterns C, D, E, F, G.

To make this pillow, you will need the following supplies:
3.5 mm (US E) crochet hook [Affiliate Link]
Yarn needle, Sewing needle [Affiliate Link]
Fabric Quarters (100% cotton) in black and cream [Available at Joann’s]
Thread in black and red [Affiliate Link] [Affiliate Link]
I Love This Cotton in Red, Black, Coral, and Rose Bud [Available at Hobby Lobby]
Pillow stuffing [Affiliate Link]
Paper, tissue paper, scissors, straight pins
Iron, ironing board [Affiliate Link]
Sewing machine (optional) [Sewing Machine Recommendations]

To make the pillow base, begin by washing and ironing the fabric squares. You will also need to download and print the sewing pattern below.

[Sewing Pattern Download for Frida]

If you print this pattern out on 8.5″ x 11″ paper, it will be true to the size I cut. It was longer than one sheet of paper, so the two pages will need to be taped together so the arrows line up. Once the pages are printed, lay a sheet of tissue paper over the pattern, and trace the bold lines. Although there is only one pattern, you will want to trace three patterns onto tissue paper. First, the entire outline. Second, the hair outline. Third, the face outline. After cutting the tissue paper, pin it to the fabric, as shown below, then cut the fabric to the size of the tissue paper. You will cut the face shape out of the cream fabric and the hair piece and full piece out of the black fabric.

Once cut, you will pin the hair and face pieces together and sew along the edge so that the raw edges are next to each other. This may be a little tricky, as the resulting fabric will not be flat, but that is fine due to the shape of the final pillow.

As you can see in the photo below, the fabric does not lay flat. Again, this is not a problem.

Lay this sewn piece on top of the full black piece, making sure the right sides are lined up and the raw sewing edges are facing up. Pin around the outside, leaving a gap of a few inches at the top of the hair. This gap can be seen in the top right of the below photo.

If you have a sewing machine, this will go much faster, but it can be done sewing by hand as well. Make sure you start and stop where the pins end so that you have an opening wide enough to turn the fabric inside out and stuff. Once the pillow is stuffed to your satisfaction, you can hand sew the opening closed, making sure to keep the raw edges tucked inside.

Once the pillow was done, I hand sewed the crocheted attachments to the front. The patterns for the roses can be found here. From left to right, the bottom row of roses are patterns C, D, E and the top row are F, G. You can choose the color arrangement and sizes as you like, but that was my preferred layout.

Once the roses are completed and the layout chosen, sew onto pillow with red thread. I chose to sew only at the base of the rose and not around the edges of the petals to give them an extra dimension.

To complete the lips and eyebrows, you will need to know the following stitches: sl knot and ch, sl st, sc, hdc, dc

For Frida’s Lips:
Using a 3.5 mm (US E) hook and I Love This Cotton yarn in red

Ch 11, skip the first ch, then in the next ten spots: sc, 2 hdc, 2 dc, sl st in same stitch as 2nd dc, sl in next st, dc in same stitch as sl st, dc, 2 hdc, sc. Ch 1 and continue on the opposite side of the original chain in the same ten spots: sc, hdc, 5 dc, hdc, sc, sl st and tie off.

Sew onto pillow with red thread.

For Frida’s Eyebrows:
Using a 3.5 mm (US E) hook and I Love This Cotton yarn in black

Ch 30, 6 sl st, 3 sc, 4 hdc, 1 sc, 1 sl st, 1 sc, 4 hdc, 3 sc, 6 sl st, tie off.

Sew onto pillow with black thread.

It may be a little snug, but I’m loving my new craft corner. Easy access to everything I need!

COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This pattern was designed by me and is intended for your personal use. I have provided it for free on my blog, and the selling of this pattern is strictly prohibited. If you are interested in selling completed items based off this pattern, please notify me and credit me as the designer.