Created by: Shannon McBride

Patch & Piece Pillow Makeover!

I love combining patterns, textures and shapes to create something unique. I used these several fabrics to play off their patterns to piece in designs, or “applique” if you will. For the grand finale, I used leftovers plus fabrics from my stash to create an awesome patchwork pillow.

Supplies:

• 1 ½ yard Rifle Paper Co. Les Fleurs Canvas
• 1 ½ yard Kaufman Metallic Gold Linen Blend
• 1 yard Waverly Strands Tuxedo
• ½ yard Premier Prints Feather Silhouettes Coral
• ½ yard Art Gallery Canvas Reminder
• ½ yard Faux Suede Black
• All purpose thread
• Upholstery needle
• Fiber Fill
• Pillow Forms of your choosing
• A few stash fabrics that you’ve been waiting to use!

For assembling the pillows, I used the same method for the floral word pillows, the feather pillows and the Aztec pillows. I sewed the two squares together with a ½ seam allowance, along 3 sides, leaving the bottom side open. I clipped the corners and flipped it inside out, stuffed down the pillow form to allow extra fabric to topstitch the bottom seam closed. Once the seam was closed, I fluffed the pillow and voila!

Floral Word Pillows:

I love this Art Gallery Canvas fabric with typewriter-look lowercase letters. Note- this fabric does not supply a full alphabet, but a ½ yard gets you enough options to form some desirable words. I cut a ½’’ border around the letters I wanted to form the word “love.” and the phrase “oh, hi.” I love the results of the lettering on the Rifle Paper Co. floral linen blend; the white almost looks electric. These finished pillows measure about 20” x 20”. For each pillow, I cut 2 squares of the fabric measuring 21” x 21” to give a ½” seam allowance.

I positioned where I wanted the letters to be, pinned them, and used a concentrated zig zag topstitch to applique on:

Following the enclosing method mentioned in the summary, this image shows how I’ve stuffed the pillow form down and pinned, to allow extra fabric to work with as I topstitch the seam closed:

Once the cover was sealed, I fluffed the pillow:

Feather Pillows:

This Premier Prints fabric has coral feathers printed allover, so I wanted to cut them out and form new patterns and designs by piecing them on other fabrics. These finished pillows measure about 16” x 16”, so I cut two 17” squares of the Waverly fabric that balance the black and white pattern, so that it would be centered on the pillow. I cut out 18 feathers with a ¼’’ white border, and positioned them strategically in the jacquard design of this Waverly fabric.

This pillow plays directly off the pattern in the Waverly fabric; the feathers and the design line up just right, so visually, it’s like creating a whole new fabric! I used a concentrated zig zag topstitch along the white border with metallic gold thread.

The feathers also resembled that of flower petals, so I cut out about 20 and positioned them till I had a flower blossom shape I liked based off the exact center of the square. I pinned the outer layer of the feather first, pinned and stitched them with metallic gold thread. I straight stitched within the borders of the feathers, as well as stitched randomly on the feather, creating an abstract grain look. For the center, I just folded over a feather and top stitched. Tip: make sure your machine is well oiled! This particular pillow was a bit tedious, but well worth it.

Aztec Pillow:

This pillow is so easy and so on-trend! For each pillow, I cut 17” x 17” squares of this metallic linen blend fabric, so that the finished size would be 16” x 16”. I cut 10 triangles out of faux suede black fabric, and positioned them on the gold linen square.

I experimented with a few different kinds of triangles and different shapes, landing on 2 designs. I pinned the design down and topstitched ¼”around all the borders. I even added a stitch design just to give a little something extra. Like the other applique pillows, this faux suede will have some shedding, so just pull and trim the threads as they unravel a little.

Patchwork Pillow:

To me, this is the wow-factor pillow. This pillow was inspired by a pillow Anthropologie carried years ago, and I just loved it. To create my own version of it, I played with the leftover fabric I had from the piece pillows as well as some fabric I had in my stash.

Depending on the size of the pillow you wanted to make, determines how usable the leftover pieces are. I wanted a rectangular pillow and used fiber fill to make it a custom size of 15” x 20”.

The fabric I used for this pillow:

• Leftover Waverly Strands fabric. I had just enough left off my original 1 yard piece to create a section on the front and used it as the backing. I also cut the selvedges off to create the fringe on the sides.
• Leftover Rifle Paper Co. floral fabric
• Cut some more feathers out of the Premier Prints fabric
• Leftover gold linen blend fabric from the Aztec pillows.
• Cotton + Steel Xoxo fabric from my quilting cotton stash. This color way is no longer available, however, there are still more colors available for this style.
• Also from my stash, this Charlotte Moss linen fabric

I drew this basic design out and started layering the fabrics on each other, designing what I wanted the order and shapes to be. The best part about this pillow design is that it doesn’t have to be perfect! Anything goes. I started by free hand drawing a zig zag in pencil on the back of the XoXo fabric:

I followed the same line and cut the butterfly fabric to match:

I cut a few more feathers out, but this time cutting all the way to the print to avoid any white borders. I also wanted the points to be included in the seam allowances. I layered and played with the fabrics till I got the look I wanted, and started pinning and sewing!

I cut the black and white fabric to follow the wave pattern, and pinned my layers together. Top stitching with a ¼’’ allowance:

For each layer, I trimmed the back as I went to reduce bulk:

I used a variety of topstitches with aqua thread, as shown. I picked a zig zag stitch for the jacquard fabric to secure it a bit more. Like all the other pillows, there will be some fraying and a “shedding” period, but overtime, I want the frayed look to add texture to the pillows:

Once I had patched the front of the pillow together, I used a leftover piece of the black and white fabric for the back, but I used the opposite side. I also cut the selvedge off of the black and white fabric to use as fringe on 2 sides of the pillow:

For enclosing this pillow, I wanted to hand stitch it closed. So I left a very small opening along the black and white fabric portion, so that my stitches would be better concealed within the jacquard fabric:

I used a ½ seam allowance, clipped the corners and flipped it inside out. I carefully stuffed the pillows with fiber fill and hand stitched the opening closed using a slip stitch.

Once closed, mold and fluff your pillows to get the fiber fill settled.

And done! Seven coordinating pillows that combine unique elements from each fabric. Enjoy!