Hey Friends!

It’s Amber from Piece Fabric Co. this time!

I made a little project that would make the perfect handmade gift for anyone in your life.

These adorable pillows came together in a matter of hours. They were so fun to make and are perfect as gifts!

Fabric choices

Usually, people pick a pattern and then buy fabric, but that’s boring. Why not buy the fabric first and then see what you can make out of it?

I picked up a little scrap bundle of blue, grey, and white linen in-store at Piece Fabric Co. to see what I could create.

Pattern idea

I came up with the idea for the first pillow from the Silk Stars quilt by Christine from Tessellate Textiles. The blocks are beautiful and come together as a quilt wonderfully, but why not just make one block as a pillow?

Here is a block of the Kona Reds Version from the Silk Stars quilt:

And here is my block for a pillow:

The block is made almost entirely of HSTs (half-square triangles) so I made eight at a time. Then later I realized that I only needed four of each colorway, so I ended up with a bunch of extra HSTs.

Using the extra HSTs

To use up the extra HSTs I decided to make a second pillow to coordinate with the first one. 

This one was more challenging since I didn’t have a pattern. I didn’t want it to match the first one, and I wanted to use up all the leftover HSTs.

I laid them out, moved them around, and played with them until I liked the design. It’s a little funky looking by itself but it compliments the first one beautifully.

It turned out like this:

Finishing touches

The awesome thing about smaller projects is that hand quilting them is super quick and fun! I quilted the first one in a sort of grid, and the second I quilted along seams at random. 

Before I hand quilted the pillow tops I basted them together with a layer of Quilters Dream Bamboo/Orient and a backing using Odif Temporary Adhesive to glue them together. 

I wanted the hand quilting to stand out a little but not too much, so I used a light blue/grey thread—Aurifil 2610 in 12 weight.

Once I had finished quilting the pillow tops it came time to add the backing and stuff them! There are many ways to finish a throw pillow, but I decided to just stuff it and sew it closed. You could also sew on a zipper to make it removable.

Lessons

There are so many different methods and patterns you could use to sew a pillow. Make it fun though! We make enough crazy and complicated by-the-pattern quilts. It’s good to get out of your comfort zone and be creative with your sewing!

This is also a great project to get rid of some scrap fabric you have lying around. Whether you keep the pillow or give it away I guarantee it will be well-loved!

Have you made a throw pillow as a gift? It's the perfect quilted gift to give, and there are so many variations. We'd love to see the ones you've made, so if you post them on Instagram, be sure to tag us @piecefabricco. And if you are local, stop by and check out our scrap bundles!