Quilted Pillow Covers {Tutorial}

So I've been making lots of new pillow covers for my very favorite UK resident.

She (wisely) chose the entire Amy Butler LOVE line which is a beauty. What a pleasure to work with these super cheery fabrics.

Group Picture

Ok, everyone smile and say "cheeeese!"

I thought I would share the (kind of long but totally worth it) process with you so that your sofa will look crazy awesome too. You're welcome.

Supplies:

Fabric - can be various scraps. Should be at least two yards total.

All the sewing stuff - machine, thread, scissors

Blue painter's tape or ye ol' masking tape

Safety pins (curved are preferred, but normal are fine)

Batting - I use Warm & Natural

Cord - usually found in the upholstering section of Joann's with grommets and other fun stuff. Don't be intimidated as I was the first time I ventured out of the fabric section. Just find the size you like and ask the nice lady to cut a few yards for you. (Make sure you figure that part out at home first, though.)

Degree of difficulty - probably not a good first project, but you don't have to be a rocket scientist. I guess I'd say advanced beginner. I mean, it's just sewing. With these thorough directions, anyone could make it! :)

Let's begin, shall we?
First, make the front of your pillow. Be it patchwork or some sweet design. Just sew that puppy together and make sure it's slightly bigger on all sides than your pillow form. This tutorial is for a 20" x 20" pillow, so the front was about 21 inches square.

Yes, you need to iron it. No, don't worry about trimming it up and cutting it to size.

Next - cut a piece of batting also about an inch (or more) larger than the form.

Dear Eco-Sewers and Cheap Skates, save all batting from your quilts and sew it together for small projects like this. I know!!! Just set your machine to the widest, biggest, bestest zigzag you have and butt those pieces together. Try not to overlap the edges as it won't lay flat under the finished piece. My new motto: Economical, Efficient, Environmental. Hubs thinks I'm joking when I say it, but really, it's free batting, people!
Love, me

Ok, moving on... We have the top, the middle, and now... the back:

If this were the back of a quilt, it had better be ironed and beautiful. However, this is the back of the front of the pillow. It will never been seen. Ever. So use whatever you like, but for goodness sake, don't pay money for it.

Now that we have all three layers for the front of our sweet pillow, it is time to prepare a little sandwich. Hold the mayo - it's a quilt sandwich.

Lay cheapo backing on the floor. Have the blue painter's tape handy. Tape at least once on each side, pulling the fabric kinda tight. Taut? I'll stick with tight.

If this were an actual quilt, I'd recommend taping the heck out of it, pulling as tight as you can. But like I said before - it's the back of the front of a pillow. It will never ever be seen.

Adding to the quilt sandwich, next lay your batting on top:

And then the front (pretty side up):

All three layers should be visible all the way around the quilt. The idea is that when you quilt (sew through all the layers), things can pull and "shrink" and you want to eliminate the possibility of the front being larger than the back at all costs. Then the whole size of the pillow is shot. Trust me.

Now you'll need those safety pins. Curved are preferable (Walmart, $2), but normal ones will do. Pin the center first and then work away from the center, smoothing the front as you go.

Don't try and look at my watch to see what time I did this. It was nap time.
That's how I tell time here - nap time and non-nap time.

I'm pointing at the first safety pin placed in the center.
I'm not much for rules in sewing, but it's kind of important.

Keep pinning and pinning. They should be about 4 inches apart. Work from the center up, then the center down, center left and center right. Obviously the pillow won't know if you work from the center right before you go left - I'm just giving an example of working methodically to keep the fabric tight... taut.

Now it's time to quilt this baby! Again keeping the whole taut thing in mind (I just looked it up on dictionary.com, turns out I was right!) - as the needle is going up and down, your hands should be pulling away from each other, keeping the fabric as taut as possible.

Please don't be too jealous of my unmanicured naturally supple hands.

I use a water-soluable marker to guide my sewing when quilting straight lines. That's the blue line you see. After sewing, I just use a wet toothbrush to take the lines away.

I'm here to tell you that you can indeed make your own piping. Yes, you! Piping!

I chose to use the same fabric as the backing. Cut enough strips so that they are a few inches longer than the actual diameter of the pillow. So for four sides of a 20-inch pillow... I need a little more than 80 inches of both cord and fabric.

I have about 84 inches of cord here:

Cut fabric strips one and a quarter inches wide:

Lay corners right sides together and sew top left to bottom right at 45-degree angle.

Now sew them together as shown (on blue mark) to get one looooong continuous strip, also about 84 inches long.

Trim away the excess, about 1/4" after the seam:

Seam should look as such when sewn together:

Now to put fabric casing around the cord to make your very own piping!

Fold the strip in half long-ways with cord in the center. Keep the raw edges together. Most people pin, but I am not a pinner - I'm much too impatient for such things. So keep them together with your method of choice. Get out the zipper foot and sew with the needle as close to the cord as possible. Go slow and stop as often as you need to keep it nice and neat. You've worked hard so far - don't screw it up now!! :)

Ta-daaa! Eighty-four inches of glorious piping!

Now is the time to trim up your quilt sandwich to 20 inches square. If you like an extra fluffy pillow, make it smaller. If you like it a little flatter, go a little larger.

Using your zipper foot, sew the piping onto the quilt sandwich you created earlier. Be sure to keep the raw edges of the piping aligned with the raw edges of the quilt sandwich. Pin if you must. Go ahead, I'll wait.

So now you should have the assembled and quilted top of the pillow cover with piping sewn on. Be proud, very proud of this accomplishment. For the back of the pillow, choose your fabric and try to follow these awesome math skillz.

For an envelope closure, the two back pieces should overlap by at least 6 inches for a 20-inch pillow. For smaller pillows, they don't need to overlap as much, but any less than four inches and you could be asking for trouble. Sounds serious, huh?

For this pillow, I cut two pieces of backing fabric 21" x 13".

Sew just ONE long side of EACH panel to make a hem. Fold 1/4 inch, baste (the long stitch) and iron if you wish. Then fold another 1/4 inch and sew nice and pretty. Sometimes I use a decorative stitch here. But just on one side because the other will be hidden underneath.



Ok, hang in there! We're almost done! (More of a pep talk for myself to keep writing this! The sewing is much more fun.)

Next - place the panel that you would like to see the most of face down first on top of the quilted front so that right sides are facing. Next, lay down the other panel also face down, overlapping the first.

The two back panels should completely cover the front of the pillow.

Ok, let's get that zipper foot back on the machine now. Reach down deep to find your Super-Feely Fingertip Superpower. Just as you made your own piping (you did go through with it, didn't you?!), get the needle as close to the cord as possible. Since it's under the backing, you won't be able to see it - at all. Just use your Fingertip Feely Superpower and do your best. Slowly stitch all the way around the pillow. If the needle gets away, just cut the thread and get back on track. Stay with it! The closer you stitch to the cording, the neater the finished product will be.

After you've stitched all the way around, flip the pillow right side out and insert your pillow form.




It's gonna rock. The wonderful quilty-soft front will be so perfect to lay your now-weary head on for a well-deserved nap. I told you it was worth it.


I'm so proud of you!

Adventures in pretend homeschooling

As Bella's preschool closed last fall, we have been pretending to have our very own preschool here at home. I love it. Will it continue? I hope so, but who knows...

As with the rest of motherhood, I am completely winging it. We began a little "Letter of the Week" deal. I print out the letter (upper and lower case) on cardstock, she practices writing it, we write a few simple words beginning with that letter, and then maybe a hands-on craft or field trip. It's working well. Really well! Sometimes it takes us 2 or 3 weeks to move along to the next letter and sometimes we are on track.

All of our "letters" are kept in a 3-ring notebook for her to look at and keep organized. She likes to use markers, crayons, colored pencils, any sort of new writing tool that she is excited about at that time. It is one colorful notebook that is beginning to be it's own work of art!

So last week was letter P. A good one for us (semi)Italians! Pizza last Saturday with Pasta on the following Saturday. Also a trip to the zoo to pay special attention to the Penguins, Pythons, and Parrots.

This week is Q. I'm down with quilting and all, but I'm a little stumped with a cooking item. Quiche might not be realistic and I'm fresh out of quail eggs. Could be visiting R quite soon!

This Moment

As usual, I was left very inspired by SouleMama's post today. Titled this moment, she beautifully captured the essence of what is now for her.

A few nights ago, Isabella and I finished up the last chapter of Little House in the Big Woods where Laura, at a mere six years old, reflected on how much she loved her now. I could barely squeak out the words because it was so touching to think of a little girl so in love with what was around her and wanting nothing else in the whole world.

Amanda (SouleMama) then finished the post by inviting us to do the same - reflect on our present moments.

Things have been a bit rocky here lately. Colds, cabin fever, a strong-willed toddler, a short-fused mama.... But looking at this picture from a couple of days ago reminds me of how much I do indeed love my now. Even with the bumps in the road, it's all one big wonderful mess.

A fun-loving, adventuresome-dressing almost 4-year old just begging to have her picture taken.

A strong-willed, curious, grabby, insistant toddler needing to investigate the picture process.

This shot says it all.

First finish of the year

Just finished my first big quilty project of the year. An absolutely adorable custom project for my new friend in the UK. Oh yeah, I'm international, baby!

Front of quilt

Back of quilt

Embroidered the child's artwork on each piece

What fun it was to work on this. Even though it brought out some (brand) new techniques. Made my own piping on the pillow. Woo hoo!! Could not find the right shade of green so I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. Totally not very hard at all. Turns out I was nervous-eating all day for no good reason!

Also, the embroidery was a new thing to tackle. I've done your basic cross stitch since I was a wee lass, but this was way new. Lucky for me, I found a great book on teaching the necessary stitches. I recommend for you, dear reader(s) -- haha! : Doodle Stitching by Aimee Ray. Excellent for no-medium skill on the embroidery scale. Lots of cute projects too. The descriptions are pretty good. I'm sooo not good at following patterns, directions, authority - you name it. So the fact that I actually read the book (many times) and referenced it whilst I was sewing says a lot.

We all have something new to learn and do, right??

Craft Hope for Haiti

I've donated some items and there are oodles of others too. 100% of the proceeds go to Doctors without Borders to help with the devastation in Haiti. Please go shopping to donate to these wonderful workers and residents.

The ups and downs of sewing

Lots of things have been starting and stopping lately. I guess that's why I've been able to post some blogs. Inbetween things, I have a little time to sit a spell.

Up: The Wonky Whirlygig is progressing!
Down: Progressing so much that I need to get more of the ivory sateen. I've really been trying to just buy what I know I'm going to use, but I hate going to the store a gazillion times for boring sashing.


Up: Yay! The cubicle I've always dreamed of! Isabella felt quite important when I put her 3-bin craft organizer by mommy's "sewings". I'm using the cubes for collections and the color-coded pull-out organizer for scraps and random fabrics. The blue "man-box" on top there was my birthday present. Not very pretty, but soooo very handy for the little odds and ends like rick-rack, elastic, bias tape maker, etc. I used to waste so much time searching for things and this is such a sanity saver!
Down: Seriously, nothing. Just wish I had more!


Up: I made my first baby shoes! Poor little kiddo of mine is a professional sock-taker-offer. So I thought little Valentines shoes were in order. I pulled the elastic in the back extra tight so she wouldn't be able to pull them off and her tootsies would be toasty warm all winter long.

Down: Hubby noticed that the elastic was cutting into her skin and toes were turning purple . Oopsy. Circulation can be so overrated. But she didn't get them off! No, we took them off and now they are making the rounds on Bella's dolls. Guess I'll try, try again.

New Year... new quilt!

The Wonky Whirlygig

I'm way late jumping on the whirlygig bandwagon, but I'm ok with that. I started making these little (only about 3" squares!) guys just after new years. I had a 5" charm pack of Benartex City Blooms by Kitty Yoshida that I wasn't sure what to do with. AND I've had a bug in my bonnett (reading a lot of Little House on the Prairie lately!) to do something other than another square-in-a-square quilt. So here we go... my first whirlygig!

I know, they're going different directions. I didn't think to pay attention to how the charm pack was laying while I was cutting a couple squares at a time. They were all wrong - sides together. So just a note to you future whirlygigles out there: check them charms! But I'm hoping it will give the quilt movement and make the eye dance around at all the different styles. Since I made my own templates, they are definetly wonky. Fine by me! I love to use quilting as my main method of chilling out. If I find myself getting frustrated by piecing and getting all exact on things, I'm likely to not finish the project for a few decades.

Hubby bought me a sweet 9-cube organizer thing from Target last weekend! I had way too much fun sorting and folding my fabric. Pictures to follow. Seems like a lot of you are in the organizing mode. I could use about 14 more of them, but I'm thrilled with this one for now.