Sweet tweets! Check out this cute pattern in our Etsy Shop. You’ll pick six favorite floral fabrics to create these fine feathered friends, then appliqué them in place on a pair of stitched telephone lines.
Here’s a wonderful way to freshen up your space – indoors and out. Our pillow design features criss-cross lacing along the front closure to add a nautical spin. Bold stripes, cut in different directions, are a perfect fabric choice.
Here at S4H, we believe one of the best ways to be happier is to surround yourself with home décor that makes you smile. Why are you smiling? Because you made it yourself! This colorful mini bolster is a great start to your happiness project. It looks quite fancy with its ruched center panel, piping
This custom felt appliqué pillow features more twists and turns than a James Patterson mystery. We created a beautiful abstract flower design with a bit of a whimsical feel – perfect to render in the soft texture of a quality wool blend felt. If you are a beginner when it comes to appliqué, felt is
If you’re happy and you know it… make a pillow. This pillow is what we envision Little Miss Muffet’s tuffet must have looked like. A little bit cushion and a little bit pillow in one! A great beginner friendly project.
Sometimes a project has a distinct front and back. Other times, you want it to be pretty from all sides. This set of elegant pillows features wraparound cording for a unique, all-around-gorgeous result. We selected two coordinated home décor prints within a single colorway to create a trio of pillows in three distinct shapes: hexagon,
Where would you like to go today? Forget Google Maps and the ever-present GPS, give me a real map and I’ll follow you anywhere… bonus points if it might be a treasure map! We were originally inspired by the Street Maps fabric from the Dapper collection by Tim Holtz for Coats – a vintage wonderland of
Embroidery turned a simple round, white pillow into a stunning statement. Our friends at Janome America sponsored this beautiful custom embroidery design, allowing us to offer it to you as a free download in the six major embroidery machine formats. The ascending and descending triangles simulate a rosy sunrise reflected in a cool mountain lake.
For our Featured section, we’ve been focusing on projects that can use smaller pieces from your fabric stash. This lumbar pillow uses skinny cuts to create pretty strip patchwork. Wavy line free-motion quilting finishes the front.
From selecting the fabric to plopping the pillow into place, this fast and easy project is a perfect way to create Décor in a Day. We used our favorite tapering technique to help prevent crumpled corners.
In the whirlwind of today's designer quilting cottons with their amazing coordinated collections of prints and solids, it's easy to forget about the classics of the fabric world. We used our imagination to apply some old-fashioned goodness in a new way, creating a set of pillow covers wrapped in the Southern charm of candy-colored seersucker.
Set this pretty kitty on your sofa to keep watch over the rest of your pillows. The bold silhouette with its sweet dimensional bow is truly the Cat’s Meow. Our original design was created to show off the amazing appliqué capabilities of the Janome machines, which have amazingly precise stitch quality, from the top-of-the-line sewing
The round bolster is a great way to add a new and interesting shape to your pile o' decorator pillows. We chose a 6" x 16" cylinder, which is a classic size to pair up with a 16" or 20" square pillow. Or, make a pair of bolsters as we did and display them on
We’re always on the lookout for designer trends in retail shops, online, magazines, and more. It was during a recent search that we spotted a number of pillows with dense panels of decorative stitching, as well as many featuring embroidery accents and tassels. It was a style that had a bit of a boho feel
One easy way to use up odd-sized scraps of pretty fabric is to patchwork them together into an interesting pillow. This pretty pillow is an example of one made using a grid. The design is the same on both the front and back, however, we turned one grid panel 90º to create an interesting effect
This time of year, baby showers seem to come in waves! Stumped for a great gift idea? This adorable pillow pair is one of our “Baby Shower Power Gifts.” The basic piped pillow pattern is fast and simple and the free, downloadable animal appliqués are super cute.
One of the reasons Sew4Home came into existence was our desire to get new people interested in sewing. We wanted to prove sewing was within anyone's reach, even if you'd never even turned on a sewing machine before. It's why we're so focused on providing detailed instructions with helpful photos and make-no-assumptions steps. It's also
English paper piecing is handwork not machine stitching. Most people associate it with beautifully intricate quilt tops, but the precise, perfectly shaped pieces were just as wonderful for our pair of graphic pillows.
Freshen up for spring with new additions to the pillowscape on your bed or sofa. We used Fat Quarters, selecting 13 coordinating prints to blend together with simple patchwork techniques into three different pillow shapes: one square, one rectangle, and one bolster.
Oilcloth is water resistant with a wipe-clean surface, making it ideal for patio living. “It will be too sticky for pillows,” you shout! These pillows are meant to be used as bright pops of color to decorate not for sleeping.
A “Word Pillow” makes a bright, bold statement to add to your pillowscape. We include the appliqué template for “Ahoy,” but this time of year, you could build your own to suit the situation. How about: Dad, Grad, Smile or Hug?!
Zippers are one of the trusty workhorses of the sewing world. They normally go about their jobs, opening and closing without much fanfare. But recently, it's become quite trendy to let them out from between the seams to shine on their own. Today's fancy and fashionable pillow does just that, featuring zippers on both the
Create a fast, patchwork pillow using thin scraps. We dove into our stash for leftover Jelly Roll and Honey Bun strips. A variety of decorative stitching along each seam adds a dash of color and texture. Each one is different.
These eye popping pillows are created in Candy Shag Faux Fur. The long nap starts as pure white at the base with brilliant candy colors at the tips. As the nap shifts, so does the color. Wonder if that would work on my hair?!
We love sewing by machine! It's fast, it's easy, and when you have great machines like the Janome models in our S4H studios, it's almost effortless. But it doesn't mean you can't whip out the hand needle and thread now and then. A few well-placed hand-stitched accents add a unique decorative touch. Today's lovely lumbar
Charm squares are just that: charming little chunks of fabric, 5" x 5" squares from all the patterns and colorways within a given fabric collection. A standard charm pack usually comes with approximately 42 pre-cut 5" x 5" squares. They're a real time-saver and can make patchworking projects a delight. We used a charm pack
The way you put together the fabrics in your projects can tell a little story. Our pillow pair does just that. In our story, an absent-minded French lepidopterist (butterfly specialist) is on his way to collect the final rare butterfly missing from his collection. He checks his watch at the subway stop, adjusts his spectacles,
What’s faster than a pillow. Well… cheetahs, Italian sports cars, and the time it takes for your kids to age from 2 to 20 to name a few. So, let’s be more specific. When it comes to sewing projects, what’s faster and easier than a pillow? Nothing! This pillow design is certainly quick and easy,
A classic triangle with a unique octopus appliqué plus a companion starfish pillow. Make one or make them both. Their brilliant colors and interesting shapes would be perfect as toss pillows in a sunroom or covered patio.
Use your newfound heirloom-by-machine skills from the article above to create a unique decorator pillow. We incorporated straight tucks, wave tucks, entredeux, and lush ruffles into stunning tone-on-tone beauty.
This project gives you three different decorative stitching options to try, and we’ve included three template downloads to re-create our exact designs. Vary the fabric, thread colors, and stitch patterns for dozens of options.
This clever pillow looks complex with its intricate lattice front and peek-a-boo inset, but it’s so easy. We love the splash of color behind the lattice strips. Just imagine all the wonderful fabric combinations you could try!
Did anyone ever try to teach you origami? If so, a paper crane was likely your first, and maybe your only, project. So here's your little known fact for the day: origami is Japanese paper folding; its predecessor is the Chinese paper art called zhe zhi. The graceful crane is revered in China as the
This finished pillow may look complex, but the steps are... as the name promises: Extra Easy. If you are learning to sew yourself or teaching someone else, this is a great first project. We spend extra time going over tools and techniques, and you'll find links to other articles that can move you further along the
Like your favorite pair of sweats, sometimes you gotta have a loose fit. This pretty pillow follows suit with a relaxed and roomy cover. We added 15 lines of decorative stitching and custom corner tassels.
We call this our "jewel box pillow" because it features three rows of diamonds. But in the world of patchwork, a diamond is really just a square turned on point. So the complex-looking front of this pretty pillow is actually just six simple rows stitched together on the diagonal. Fooled ya, didn't we?! We add
This dramatic pillow is what is traditionally called a “statement” pillow, the member of the pillowscape with the strongest flair, the one that anchors the collection. The striking fleur-de-lis appliqué is a free download.
Words are wonderful, aren't they? I especially love it when one word has lots of different uses. Take "weave" for example. In general, it simply means to go in and out. But it can be a verb or a noun or even an adjective. You weave a tale of mystery and intrigue; you can weave
When you think of patchwork, you usually think of quilting cotton. But there’s no rule! We added luxury into the mix with a jewel box blend of silk dupioni in Tiffany blue, glittering silver, burnished gold, and rich ebony.
The inspiration for today's pillow came from a beautiful blouse in Alicia's closet. Taking ideas from garment construction is a fun way to incorporate unique techniques and embellishments into your home décor. We used the softness of double-layer ruffles to create romance-in-the-round on this beautiful neckroll pillow. An overcasting stitch finishes the raw edges, adding