Pillow Quilting Washington DC

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There’s more to quilting that just cutting out a few squares of fabric and sewing them together. Quilting is also an art form, and like any great form of art, the more skills you develop, the better you become as an artist. The projects in this article use techniques that are a little more advanced and, as such, can help take you from beginner to intermediate quilter.

Hand-Quilted Starburst Pillow
Are you ready to try hand quilting? Great! Here’s a quick, fun project to get you started. The small size (14 inches square) makes it more than manageable for the beginner. This pillow makes a great take-along project, too: Just whip it out of your bag whenever you find a few precious moments of spare time.

Stashing your materials
The following list covers the fabrics and notions you need to create this
pillow:

101⁄2- x 101⁄2-inch square of off-white tone-on-tone fabric

1⁄3 yard of yellow print fabric

15- x 15-inch piece of off-white tone-on-tone fabric

15- x 15-inch piece of low-loft cotton or polyester batting

15- x 15-inch piece of coordinating print fabric

2 yards of purchased piping in navy blue

All-purpose thread in off-white

Hand quilting thread in navy blue

A between needle

Stuffing or a 14-inch pillow form (see the sidebar “A word about pillow forms”)

Preparing the pillow top for quilting
In the following steps, I explain how to transfer the quilting design onto the pillow top and prepare the top for quilting:
1. Fold the 101⁄2-inch off-white square into quarters and press it. Unfold the square, and lay it flat.
The resulting creases help you center your quilting pattern.
2. Using the creases as a guide, transfer the quilting pattern at the end of this project section to the center of the square by tracing or using dressmaker’s carbon and a sharp pencil.
3. From the yellow print fabric, cut two 21⁄2- x 101⁄2-inch strips for the upper and lower borders, and cut two 21⁄2- x 141⁄2-inch strips of the same fabric for the side borders.
4. Using the all-purpose thread and a 1⁄4-inch seam allowance, machine stitch the upper and lower borders to the marked off-white square. Press the seam allowances toward the borders.
5. Repeat Step 4 with the side borders.
6. Layer the pillow top with the batting and the off-white solid lining fabric, and thread baste the layers together to prepare them for quilting.

Quilting the pillow top
The following steps tell you how to quilt the starburst pattern onto the pillow top.
1. Thread a between needle with a length of quilting thread about as long as the distance from your elbow to your fingertips.
2. Starting wherever you feel like on the quilting pattern, bury the knot in the batting, and begin quilting. Take small, evenly spaced stitches.
3. Outline the off-white center square by hand quilting 1⁄4 inch away from either side of the seam line connecting the center with the borders.

Assembling the pillow
After you quilt the pillow top, you’re ready to finish the project. The following steps explain how to assemble the pillow so you that can put your quilting skills on display:
1. Thread your sewing machine with off-white all-purpose thread. Machine stitch about 1⁄8 inch away from the raw edges of the pillow top.
2. Trim away the excess lining fabric and batting that extend beyond the edges of the pillow top.
3. Machine stitch the piping around the edges of the pillow top by aligning the raw (not rounded) edge of the piping along the raw edge of the pillow top. Begin stitching at the center of one side, leaving a 2-inch tail of piping hanging free.
4. When you approach a corner, stop stitching 1⁄4 inch from the corner, and clip into the seam allowance of the piping close to, but not through, the stuffed area of the piping. Clipping the seam allowance eliminates the bulk that would have resulted at the corners if you had tried to turn them without stopping and clipping. Clipping results in nice, pointed corners.
5. Turn the corner, and resume stitching the piping. When you arrive back at your starting point, overlap the remaining piping and the tail you left at the starting point, and stitch across them. Trim the excess tails of the piping so that they’re only about 1⁄2 inch long. The layers of fabric and batting are a bit bulky, so you need to stitch slowly to avoid breaking your needle.
6. Place the completed pillow top against the 15- x 15-inch piece of coordinating backing fabric, right sides together. Pin the two pieces together to keep them from shifting during assembly.
7. Stitch the pillow top to the backing along the same line of stitches you
used to attach the piping, leaving a 10-inch opening along the bottom edge for turning.
8. Clip the corners close to the stitching line, but not through it, to eliminate bulk at the corners.
9. Turn the pillow top right side out by pulling it through the opening.
10. Insert the pillow form or stuff the cover until it’s as firm as you like.
11. Tuck in the seam allowances of the opening, and hand stitch the opening closed using the whip stitch. To work the whip stitch,

1. Knot the end of a single length of thread.
2. Insert the needle on the underside of the quilt, bringing it up to the right side on one side of the slit.
3. Cross to the other side of the slit and take a stitch, whipping back and forth between the left- and right-hand sides of the slit until it’s closed. No need to worry about laundering this pillow — it’s really easy! Simply pop the whole thing into the washer on a delicate setting, and then let it air dry. You don’t need to remove the cover because the polyester stuffing in the pillow form is completely machine washable. If you have any fiber migration (like if the filling seems to gather in one corner of the pillow), bounce the pillow on your knee a few times to redistribute the fluff. Enlarge 200 percent for a full-size pattern.

A word about pillow forms
The pillow forms sold in fabric and craft supply stores these days come in standardized sizes — 12-, 14-, 16-, 20-, and 24-inch. In addition to different sizes, pillow forms also come in different weights; some are meant for soft, squishy pillows, and others are firmer to give you a wellstuffed look. In an effort to have a nice, plump pillow and avoid sad, empty corners, some folks purchase a pillow form that’s an inch or two larger than the cover. This approach is never a good idea because stuffing a 24-inch insert into a 20-inch pillow covering invites disasters such as split seams and a lumpy filling. With quilted pillow covering projects, you automatically add thickness and support to the top of the pillow, so the corners shouldn’t cave in if you use the right materials. I would never recommend that anyone buy an oversized pillow form. Something stuffed that firmly isn’t a pillow — it’s a mini-mattress! Yikes!

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For Dummies is a registered trademark of Wiley Publishing, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used here by license.

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