QUILTING - PATTERNS AND COLORS

The idea was to give PILLOWS to my family at Christmas. I looked through all my quilting fabrics and tried to find ideas on the internet and could not find anything interesting. Since I love quilting, I began searching - YouTube - but most of what I found was basic squares and rectangles... I wanted something that was more imaginative, a step above! Here's what I came up with:

You'll need the basics - sewing machine, fabric (100% cotton - quilting cotton the best), pillow form (I like to use 24" x 24"), cotton batting (adhesive one side preferred), interfacing, variegated thread, scissors, iron on adhesive, protective sheet for setting applique, and a design (generally large designs in a fabric with bold colors). The key is the iron on adhesive - my preference is HeatnBond Lite which I get from Amazon.

We all need positive ideas... I find Humor is necessary with all projects. Here's a couple of Cartoons. I don't know the author of the first cartoon, the other carton is by Jen Lopez. I also have to give thanks to my husband. When we are upset it's either "I'm going to my room!" and sometimes it's "Go to your Room". Either way, I'm really happy. My husband says, "when we built our new house I'm sure your idea of the best location for the house would be inside FABRICLAND, you'd be very really happy!". I can't argue with that! The ladies and I would be sitting on the porch of my house in the middle of FABRICLAND, sipping white wine, hors d’oeuvres, marble cheese & Gouda, crackers and talk about all those patterns, colors and how it all fits together and laugh and laugh.

I begin by going to fabric stores and looking for large pattern fabrics that can be cut out and used as applique on background fabric. Finding this type of fabric is not easy and I have travelled to many shops nearby and abroad (including Great Falls, Montana, and Las Vegas Nevada) as well as online. Color is most important to me as well as an interesting design. If you prefer, you can create your own applique designs by finding a picture and drawing the outlines onto the HeatnBond and then applying the shapes to the fabric of choice (as I did with the bunny pillow). Once I have the right applique fabric, I iron on the adhesive (HeatnBond) to the back side of the fabric. With the HeatnBond Lite, it takes only a few seconds of heat (without steam) to adhere the adhesive to the fabric. After the adhesive adheres to the fabric, the pattern or designs can be cut out. Once the designs have been cut out, I group the designs into a collage for the front of the pillow.

It's vital the applique fabric blends with the background color without distracting or taking away from the applique fabric. It must blend and be interesting on it's own and more importantly, bring out the applique colors by enhancing the design. This takes hours or work but it's worth the effort. Coming from a quilting background I like to piece difference fabrics together to make the background more interesting. I tend to cut the strips into 2.5" and a little over the length of the pillow and sew them together. The final size of the background fabric should be the same size as the pillow - in reality, once it is sewn together it will be a little smaller than the pillow form which will give it a nice bulky pillow.

Before combining (heating setting) the background fabric and batting, it's vital to press the seams and add a starch (I use Ellen's Best unscented) to the fabric to give it some stability. Now the background fabric for the pillow can be adhered to the adhesive cotton batting - this takes a little work because of the size but worth the effort. Once this is done, I top stitch about a 1/4" away from the vertical or horizontal seams (if using 2.5" strips) to quilt the two together. Now you can decide whether you want to use the background vertically or horizontally before putting the applique on the fabric. The stitching helps keep the batting together when the pillow is washed. Now that the background is in place, I lay down the applique pieces on the background by placing several pieces together by overlapping the design (provides more interesting designs). When the applique pieces are placed where I like them, I remove the backing of the applique for all the pieces in the design and use a protective sheet to heat and adhere the applique onto the background - heat with iron for 3-6 seconds. This sets the applique onto the background and prepares it for edge stitching.

The applique that was heat applied to the background provides a temporary hold for the applique. To ensure the applique can survive wear and tear and washing, it's vital the edge stitch around all the edges with either a blanket stitch or satin stitch. This is where I find it important to use a thread that accentuates the image - usually a variegated thread works best. To make it more interesting, I continue with the stitching around the inner part of the applique, not only to bring out the pattern but to adhere the batting and stabilize the applique after washing. This takes a fair amount of time but the results are amazing. Once this is complete, you can begin the back of the pillow.

The back fabric of the pillow can be a solid color or you can use quilting patterns - usually vertical or horizontal. The back is made up of two pieces at least 3 - 4 inches wider than half the pillow so there is overlap when inserting the pillow form. For example, if your pillow form is 24" x 24", the back of the pillow is about 16" x 24" (2 pieces). Using interfacing gives the back of the pillow stability. If using pieces of fabric to make the backing, it is best to interface each piece and top stitch either with a plain or decorative stitch (usually similar to the front). One long edge of each piece will be used for the opening to insert the pillow form so this part is turned under and top stitched. The unfinished edges will now be sewn together to finish the pillow by sewing the background front of the pillow to the back of the pillow.

Now you are ready to put the pillow front and back together. With right sides of pillow front and back front facing each other, I pin or clip them the pieces together and overlap the two back pieces for the pillow to be inserted. I use about a 3/8" to 1/2" seam and reinforce the corners. Once sewn together, I clip the corners and turn the pillow through the opening - make sure the corners are pushed to the point. It is best press the pillow edges and then insert the pillow form. Voila - your pillow is complete.

This was my first Instructables... sewing was great fun, video editing, well, "that required more than one glass of wine". I tried several programs... too complicated. A friend suggested "Use an App, they are much more user friendly". He was right! I used a free app called "CapCut". I like it and you don't have to drink an entire bottle of wine just get though the basics. I'm excited to show the ladies how this worked out.... Enjoy the day.... It's great to see my work on the WEB. I learned a lot...