Busy Geemaw: Making a Ring Bearer Pillow and Flower Girl Basket Special

My Son got married last year to a wonderful woman that he has been with for over 10 years. I was so blessed to be able to help make some of the accessories for the wedding. Two of the accessories I was in charge of were the Flower Girl Basket and the Ring Bearer Pillow.

My Daughter In-law had a sister that was born a few years after her. Her sister Chelsea died of a genetic disorder when she was just under a year old. My Daughter In-law wanted to include the memory of her sister in the wedding, by including Chelsea's handkerchief bonnet into one of the wedding accessories. After throwing some ideas around I suggested we include it in the ring bearer pillow.

First, I did some shopping online to order a simple satin pillow and basket with a bow. It took awhile to find the one I wanted, but it was worth the wait. My Daughter In-law's Mother brought the bonnet with her on a visit, and now I had everything I needed to create a special ring bearer pillow in memory of Chelsea.

This is the ring bearer pillow before adding Chelsea's bonnet.

This is Chelsea's handkerchief bonnet.

It was very important that I not cut or alter the bonnet in any way. Luckily handkerchief bonnets are held in shape by one thread in the back, so all I had to do was snip that thread and it now would lay flat. The next thread that needed to be snipped was the stitch attaching the bow to the pillow. The bow was attached to the ribbon across the pillow so when I snipped the stitch I could lift the ribbon away from the pillow without the bow coming off.

The edge that is folded up is where the thread was that was pulled and tied to make the back of the bonnet. I just snipped the thread where if was tied and when the wedding was over, I put a thread back in and it was a bonnet again.

The front side of the bonnet after the fabric is folded under.

I folded the plain fabric of the bonnet under the lace trim and hand basted it in place. I then folded both ends under to make it the correct length to lay smoothly under the ribbon. After putting the lace under the ribbon and tucking the ribbon ties from the bonnet under the lace, I tacked the lace to the pillow.

The sides were folded in and then pinned in place to be basted.

Front side before it was basted.

The end result was a beautiful tribute to Chelsea and a great way for her to be a part of this wonderful occasion.

The finished pillow. The bonnet was tacked to the pillow under the ribbon.

To jazz up the now plain flower girl basket, I had some pretty flower and pearl ribbon that I added on the top of each side of the basket between the two bows at the handle. I just used a bit of hot glue to tack the added ribbon in place. This was an easy change, but it made a huge change in the appearance.