Pillow Talk Swap 4 Tutorial

Hello!! 

I hope everyone has had a great weekend! It's been super snowy and blowy here this weekend. Yuk! Double Yuk! I need to live somewhere warm like Florida or California. 

One good thing about it being nasty outdoors is that I get a lot of sewing done, including my Pillow Talk Swap 4 pillow. Woo Hoo!

As promised, a tutorial to go along with it. :) 

Here is the pillow all complete and ready to ship out...

Start out by choosing some of your favourite fabrics. Here was my layout...

I am using 11 fabrics here. You can choose more or less. It's totally a personal preference.

I am using Darlene Zimmerman's Dresden Plate ruler. This is important. You could probably use any dresden ruler. The process will be the same. 

For this tutorial I am using the 6.5" mark on the ruler.

From each of your fabrics, cut a strip that is 6.5" wide.  I double up my fabric to make this process go faster!

Lay out your strip of fabric and lay your ruler so that the edge is along the 6.5" mark on the ruler.

Cut along each edge of the ruler.

Now flip your ruler 90 degrees and lay it down right along the edge you just cut.

Then cut along the edge of the ruler.

You now have two "plates". Or 4 plates if you doubled your fabric.

I cut 4 plates from each of my fabrics but you will only need 39 "plates" to make this pillow.

You will need to sew three rows of 13 plates.

Begin by laying out your plates in a pleasing order, alternating each plate.

I show 10 plates wide here, you need 13.

Start with the first row.

Take plate #1 and plate #2. Flip plate #2 right sides together with plate #1 making sure that a bit of fabric overhangs. (see photo)

Sew a 1/4" seam.

Press.

Add plate #3 in the same manner...

The overhang will be at the bottom this time.

Keep sewing the pieces together for each of the three rows. Press each row.

Sew rows together matching seams.

Next we have to trim off the edges. I trimmed mine to 18" square.

The cutting mat I have is 18" wide so it was perfect for this step. If you have a larger mat, just use the 18" marks.

Lay out your pillow and center it in the 18" space on your cutting mat so that when you trim, both sides will be equal. Once you have it set, trim sides.

Turn your pillow 90 degrees and do the same step to trim the other side.

You should have a nicely squared pillow top now.

You can stop here if you want, but I wanted a larger pillow so I added borders. I added strips that measured 1 3/4" (before sewing).

My pillow now measures 20" square.

At this point, you need to quilt it. I recommend this as it gives your pillow some stability and added depth. For the backing I usually use muslin. It's fairly cheap and you won't see the back anyway. For the batting, I use the same stuff I put in my quilts, Warm and White.

Layer it: muslin, batting, and pillow right side up.

Quilt as desired. I quilted mine in a cross hatch design with stitches about 3/4" apart.

Now comes the back. I like envelope style backs so that is what I will show you here. However, you can also find out how to do others like using a zipper.

Cut two pieces. One measuring 20" x 16". One measuring 20" by 13". (If your pillow is smaller or larger, use your measurements)

On the 20" side of each piece, fold over the edge 1/2" and press. Fold that same edge over again, and press. Then stitch about 1/8" from edge. (see photos)

Get your quilted pillow top and lay it right sides up. Notice I haven't trimmed off the sides yet. I do this step last.

Lay down your larger back piece first, right sides together. Make sure the edge that you folded over is facing the center of your pillow top.

Lay down your second piece, again the folded edge towards the center. Pin all around the pillow to hold this in place.

Sew around the edges. I use a 1/4" seam but in the corners and along the spots where the folded edges of the back lay, I back stitch. Then I sew forward and back stitch again to reinforce the spots that will have the most stress.

After you have it all stitched down, trim off the excess batting and backing and turn your pillow right sides out! Stuff it with a 20" pillow form and ...

Voila!

You may be wondering why a 20" pillow form when my pillow actually measures 19.5"? I like to make my pillows 1/2" smaller than the form for a nice snug fit. I don't like floppy pillows. :)

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and, as always, if you make one, please put it in the Flickr Pool so I can ooohhh and ahhhhh over it. :)

Much Love!!!