|
Commemorate Dad's day with a set of cool plaid pillows, featuring appliqués that celebrate his family, his interests or simply his name. We used a very classic Cunningham red plaid from Pendleton for the back of each pillow, white cotton duck for the front, twisted cording, and black felted wool for our appliqués to create the look of vintage silhouettes. The only thing missing is an Irish Setter at his feet and leather patches on his jacket sleeves.
We provide the ‘DAD Letters' and ‘Little Girl Silhouette' as downloadable patterns below. But, of course, you could create your own patterns on your computer. If you want to create your own silhouette, position the person (or pet) in front of a plain wall (white would be best) and take a digital photo of him/her in profile. Import this photo into your computer's drawing program, enlarge it to a size appropriate for your pillow - for example, our "girl" is 9" tall. Print it out at full size, and carefully cut it out with nice smooth lines. Think about your comfort level for appliqué; if you're new, you may not want a lot of tiny twists and turns.
Your computer is likely to have a wonderful selection of alphabet fonts from which to choose, which would be great for a monogram appliqué. You could also trace an image to reflect Dad's favorite hobby, such as a pair of golf clubs, a fish, a tennis racket or a running shoe.
Our thanks to our neighbors at Pendleton's Woolen Mill Store; they provided the beautiful Cunningham plaid and offer cuts for sale online at their ebay store. Look for the project name: Sew4Home Project - Plaid Pillow.
Sewing Tools You Need
Fabric and Other Supplies
Supplies shown are enough to make three 16" x 16" pillows as we did. Should you want to make just one pillow, you are still kind of stuck with needing a half yard in order to get the 16" depth, but you could get away with using smaller pieces if you had fabric on hand.
- ½ yard of 60" fabric for pillow backs: we used Pendleton's Cunningham wool plaid
- ½ yard of 60" fabric for the pillow fronts: we used a white canvas cotton duck
- ½ yard of 60" for the appliqués: we used a black felted wool
- 16" x 16" pillow insert
- 6 yards of piping: we used a 3/8" twisted cord with a lip trim in black
- 1 yard of Wonder Under, Heat'n Bond or other paper-backed fusible web
- All purpose thread to match fabrics
- See-through ruler
- Fabric pen or pencil
- Iron and ironing board
- Scissors or rotary cutter and mat
- Straight pins
- Regular hand sewing needle
Getting Started
- For each pillow back, measure a 16" x 16" square and mark the cutting lines on your fabric with your fabric pen or pencil. We used the Pendleton Cunningham plaid, so we fussy cut to make sure we centered the lines of the plaid in the square. Cut out each square.
- Repeat to cut as many front fabric squares as necessary (white cotton duck in our sample).
NOTE: Often in our tutorials, we recommend cutting your pillow fabric squares an inch larger than your pillow from. By cutting the fabric the same size as the pillow insert and then using a ½ inch seam allowance, you will end up with a very full pillow when completed, which is important for this appliqué design.
- Download and print one or both of our appliqué patterns, which are sized for a 16" x 16" pillow: Little Girl Silhouette and DAD Letters
IMPORTANT: Each pattern is ONE 8.5" x 11" sheet. You must print the PDF file at 100%. DO NOT SCALE to fit the page.
- As mentioned above, you can also create your own appliqué pattern(s).
- Cut out each printed appliqué pattern and trace upside down onto the PAPER side of your fusible webbing.
At Your Sewing Machine & Ironing Board
- Cut out the traced images from the fusible webbing and iron onto the WRONG side of your appliqué fabric (black felted wool in our sample), following the manufacturer's instructions.
- Cut out each image.
- Peel the paper backing off each image, and carefully pin it in the center of the pillow front fabric (white canvas duck in our sample). Use your ruler to make sure everything is nicely centered both top to bottom and side to side.
- Iron in place, following the manufacturer's instructions.
NOTE: If you use glass head pins instead of plastic, there are no worries about accidentally melting the head of your pin with the iron and ending up with a messy pink or white glob on your project.
- Set your sewing machine for a narrow zig-zag stitch.
- Stitch around each image, being as careful as you can to keep all of the stitches on the appliqué and not on the white canvas. This will give you a much nicer edge. If you're new to appliqué, check out our tutorial: How to Appliqué.
- Put a zipper foot on your machine.
- Pin the piping to the right side of the back fabric square (the plaid in our sample). Start in the center of one side and line up the edge of the piping's insertion lip with the raw edge of the fabric.
- Stitch very close to the cord, clipping the lip of the piping at each corner.
- Finish by overlapping the ends and tucking them down towards the edge of the fabric.
- Pin the completed front square to the back square, right sides together, lining up all of the raw edges. Leave an opening large enough to fit the pillow form in.
- Still using the zipper foot, stitch as close as possible to the cord, rounding out the corners.
- Clip the rounded corners diagonally.
- Turn the pillow cover right sides out and push out your rounded corners to get a nice smooth curve.
- Insert the pillow form and pin the opening closed, remembering to tuck in the raw edges of the opening so they are flush with the sewn seam.
- Hand stitch the opening closed.
Contributors
Project Design: Alicia Thommas
Sample Creation & Instructional Editing: Jacqueline Smerek
Other machines suitable for this project include the Singer 8770 Curvy and the Elna 6600.
 |
Projects 
