Cushions...

I think cushions / pillows are such a fun and inexpensive way to add some colour to our homes and this week, I was in the mood to make a couple of sweet pillows to add to my sewing room.

I've been seeing alot of chevron patterned things around and was inspired to make a chevron pillow cover using vintage sheets that I've been hanging on for a while.  There are a few ways to sew a chevron pattern being the easiest is to use striped fabric where you cut strips of fabrics on a 45 degree angle and sew them together to create the zig zag pattern.   There's a great tutorial over at Made if you would like to check it out! 

My chevron pillow front however, is made from half-square triangles using Jeni of In Color Order's tutorial, only my squares started off at 4" and I trimmed them down to 3.5".     

I quilted straight loose lines echoing the zig zag pattern on the white background.   The red striped binding is machine stitched to the front and hand stitched to the back.

I've made an envelope backing with some more pink and blue floral vintage sheets. 

Next, I wanted to repurpose an old t-shirt, so I followed V & Co's tutorial on how to make a ruffle pillow.  I've found that Vanessa's tutorial was very easy to understand and the ruffle rosettes were lots of fun to make! 

Can you believe it!  This 14" x 14" pillow came from one medium sized t-shirt!?

 

I love how the vintage sheets add an old-fashioned charm to an otherwise modern looking design and I {heart} the t-shirt decorative cushion - it's so soft and smooshy!!!

 

 

Have a great day and thanks for visiting!

 

 

 



Patchwork Pillow - a crochet kind

I've had something like this on my 'must make' list for a while and I've followed this tutorial for the blocks to make a pillow.  

joined them in sections ...

 



 

all joined up ...



and I've finished the front with two rows of double crochet stitches in turquoise around it.

 

and here is the finished pillow ...  all rainbowy and patchworky ...

 

the back :

 

Since the holes were kind of small for big buttons, I've decided to add ribbons to give it a neat finish.   This pillow measures at 20" square and it lives with 5 other bright-coloured pillows in my daughter's room!    She LOVES pillows, by the way!!!

 

There's something quite wonderful about completing a project especially one full of crochet goodness.  My fingers are all itchy to make another pillow in different yarn now, but of course I must keep plodding along with my other projects...

 

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

 

 

 

 



 



Meadow Pillow

I was totally excited to make this pillow from Handstitched Class week 4 - applique week and got to work on it when the post was out!

This pillow is the perfect project with all the three methods used in applique.  I've learnt three new methods of applique besides the needle turn method which I'm quite familiar with -  used it for my previous Baltimore Album quilts.   Rachel  has taught us the sew & turn, fusible web and freezer paper applique method for the poppy flowers, tulip and leaves.  I've used the needle turn instead of freezer paper ( don't have any freezer paper available at my LQS or supermarket! )  applique method  for the leaves.














3 strands of embroidery floss in various colours were used for stitching the applique shapes.  The poppies were stitched using (visible) blind and running stitches and I've opted to use blanket stitch for the tulip and added a sprinkle of french knots above the tulip.   Rachel has also introduce a new embroidery stitch - stem stitch for the stems and I did mine using Pearl Cotton no. 5 thread to give the extra thickness and texture.














The pillow has a simple sewing envelope closure on the back and I've used this Zigzag binding tutorial to finish off the pillow.

This is the best photo I have of the binding stitches

Since it's my first machine binding, I chose a white thread to stitch it as I was not bold enough to show off my novice skills.   Love this new found binding method that is not only fast, secure but beautiful when viewed from the front and back!   Will definitely use it again for future projects -  placemats, table runners, mini quilts, etc.


Because of its' unusual size - 13" x 26", Rachel has also included an easy pillow form tutorial for it.  I've filled mine with lots of polyfil to achieve a plump looking pillow!    This is my first pillow project and it was so much fun and easy to make!  I see lots of pillows/cushions in the near future!  =)

I'm linking up to Katie's Handmade Parade over at There & Back :

Wishing you a lovely weekend!