Easter Pillow Tutorials

Am I the only one that gets a little nutty when Easter lands in March? In my brain, Easter is in April, that way I have proper time to enjoy it. Alas, it is in just a few weeks. Time for the Easter Bunny to get moving on baskets, decor and treats.

If you are looking to add to your Easter holiday decor, I have a couple of pillow tutorials that you may want to check out -- everything from faux chenille to free motion sketching. Running short on time like me? You can use these techniques on gifts for Mothers and Father's Day!

1.) Shabby Chic Eggs

2.) Foundation Pieced Cross Pillow - this also makes a beautiful Baptism/Christening gift!

3.) Faux Chenille  and Reverse Applique - Good or Bad Egg Pillows

4.) Free Motion Sketched - Bunnies at Church Pillow

5.) Crochet Embellished Easter Egg Pillow

Smitten With Samantha

To say I adore Samantha Walker's fabric maybe an understatement; Kiddo's nursery is completely decked out in her cowgirl design. When the opportunity arose to design for her, I jumped at the chance. Today on her blog,  I have a tutorial on how to do a fussy cut, reverse applique table runner using her Decadence line. I love this line! The colors are rich and the motif is around nature - a fabulous combination to use in your outdoor living spaces. I will have several more tutorials featuring this line later in the month on my blog, including the over sized pillow seen with the table runner.

I hope you will stop by Samantha's blog today and look around; she is one of my favorite designers and I know you will love her work!

Eggcellent Series #3 - Are You Good Egg or a Bad Egg Pillows

Are you a good or bad egg? When I started on my Easter egg pillow craze, these came to my mind. I think they are so fun. They are another reverse applique / faux chenille technique like my Shabby Chic egg pillow. This one has a cleaner edge in case you are not a fan of the free motion sketch motif of the other one.

Materials needed for both pillows:
(2) 14" pillow forms
1/2 yard of linen
1/2 yard of spring quilting cotton
1 yard of light weight fusible interfacing
large scraps of fabric for the faux chenille eggs
(2) invisible zippers

Step One: Cut out (2) 14" squares of linen and (2) 14" squares of the cotton fabric.

 Step Two: Create your applique shape template. For this pillow I did a single extra large egg. Now pick out the fabric you will want to use as the applique. Stack four layers of the fabric, making sure the applique shape will easily fit within. Next draw 45 degree angle diagonal marks every 1/2 inch apart (see photo below). The lines are closer in this tutorial and it will make for a fluffier chenille. 

 Step Three: Sew down every marked line. Cut end to end down the middle of each marked line, only through the top three layers. Do NOT cut through all four layers. There is a chenille cutter on the market that is perfect for this task, but it is not necessary for this small project.

 Step Four: Take a chenille brush or unused toothbrush and severely agitate the freshly cut fabric. I find it helps if you squirt a bit of water on the fabric while you agitate. Isn't that fluffy goodness.. love it!


Step Five: With an erasable pen, sketch your applique shape on the front cover. Place the faux chenille behind the front cover. You will have the chenille right side up against the wrong side of the linen.

 Step Six: Pin the faux chenille to keep it in place.

On only the linen, cut out the egg shape. With a satin stitch, sew down the border of the egg shape.

 Step Seven: On the back of the cover, cut away the excess faux chenille fabric.

 Step Eight: Cut out (4) 14" squares of fusible light weight interfacing. Iron on the to the wrong sides of both covers and backs.

Step Nine: Free motion quilt "the good egg" and the "the bad egg" on the pillow covers.

 

Step Ten: Install the invisible zippers on the bottoms of the covers. Then pin the front & back covers right sides together. With the zipper unzipped about halfway, sew around the perimeter with a 1/4" seam allowance. Cut the corners up to the stitching line and pull it right side out.

That's it! Super easy and so much fun..

If you like the look of free motion sketching, you have to come back tomorrow! I'll show you how to convert a hand embroidery pattern into free motion, crayon tinted fun..

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Eggcellent Series #1 - Shabby Faux Chenille

Thank you so much for joining me today! All week I will be presenting different tutorials on how to create Easter pillow covers. What kind of tutorials will I have? I have two different faux chenille, one paper pieced quilted cross, one applique with crochet, and a fun embroidery/crayon tinting.

Are you excited? I am! I have been wanting to make pillows for a long time. However I was afraid of zippers. Granted you can create pillows several different ways, but I always thought a zipper cover was the most professional looking. Earlier this year I learned how to install an invisible zipper easy peasy. The best online tutorial I can refer you to is Sew Katie Did. Seriously that Coats & Clark $2 foot is amazing! I have it on one of my older sewing machines and it has officially become the zipper machine. Now Katie and my guild friend both placed their zippers on the bottom. If I have a fancy back then I do place the zipper on the bottom, but in many cases I'll actually place it the middle of the back.. I think it lays better, but that's just my two cents.. OK, on to the tutorial!

Today I am going to show you how to make this lovely shabby chic pillow cover. You could use this technique for any reverse applique shape, so please experiment and have fun!

Materials needed:
14" pillow form
1/2 yard of linen
1/2 yard of light weight fusible interfacing
large scraps for the eggs
ric rac trim

 Step One: Cut (2) 14" squares of linen fabric.

Step Two: Create your applique shape template. For this pillow I did a basic egg. Now pick out the fabric you will want to use as the applique. Stack four layers of the fabric, making sure the applique shape will easily fit within. Next draw 45 degree angle diagonal marks every inch apart (see photo below). I use my cutting mat, ruler, and erasable marker to create these lines.

Step Three:Sew down every marked line. Next cut end to end down the middle of each marked line, only through the top three layers. Do NOT cut through all four layers. There is a chenille cutter on the market that is perfect for this task, but it is not necessary for this small project.

Step Four: Take a chenille brush or unused toothbrush and severely agitate the freshly cut fabric. I find it helps if you squirt a bit of water on the fabric while you agitate.

Step Five: On the back of applique fabric, draw out your egg shape and cut.

 Step Six: On the front cover about 6" up from the bottom, draw three of the same egg shapes with an erasable marker. Now carefully cut out the middle parts of the egg, leaving at least 1/4" space from the marked applique shape.

 Step Seven: Place the front pillow cover right side down. Pin the applique right side down with it peeking out through the window. Repeat for the remaining two eggs.

 Step Eight: I really like the sketchy look of free motion quilting, so I went crazy with it. You can either free motion around the applique border or use your regular sewing foot. The most important thing is to be sure the you are sewing down through the linen cover and catching the applique.

Step Nine: Cut (2) 14.5" strips of jumbo pink ric rac. Pin one strip above the eggs and one below them; carefully sew right now the middle of the trim.




Step Ten: Cut out (2) 14" squares of the fusible light weight interfacing. Iron interfacing on the wrong sides of both the front and back cover. Next finish the edges of the front and back cover by either running it through your serger or use your sewing machine's zig zap stitch. (This is not imperative, but it makes your pillow more professional..)

Step Eleven: Again, I highly recommend checking out Sew Katie Did's tutorial on adding a zipper. That is exactly how I do it and she explains it very well.

Have questions? Let me know! Come on back tomorrow to see a paper piece quilted cross pillow. It's gorgeous for Easter, but would also make a very sweet Baptism/Blessing/Christening gift.

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