All quilters agree, scraps keep on multiplying. I never seem to get to the end of them. I however, always love what happens when I set my mind to making something with the smallest amount of cute fabrics. I guess that is why I keep scraps of fabric I love. The pieced pillow is made from a combination of older Thimbleberries fabrics and one antique fabric scrap. I made these two pillows recently from bits and pieces from the scrap bin, trim and button boxes. They will find a home in Ella’s room at our house. Interesting, I have a grand daughter that loves decorative pillows, especially little PINK ones. That worked out well as I seem to love making them. A new pillow always changes a room’s appearance. It is such an inexpensive way to change things up a bit. These pictures are really just for inspiration…no step by step instructions are really necessary.
You can see I simply pieced tiny bits of 2″ wide short strips together with bias seams…just as you would for binding strips. I made the strips longer than needed, to give me some extra for top stitching. If I start out with the exact length needed the fabric always seems to shift a bit when I quilt the top and the shape can get a little distorted. But if I make the pillow top a little larger than needed, when the top is trimmed, I have a nice, clean,straight edge for the next step of assembling the pillow. I stitched the strips together randomly, making sure I staggered the seams… I think it is more interesting. I then layered the pillow top onto a scrap of cotton batting and did a small decorative herringbone stitch on the seams. I stitched rick-rack on the seam lines here and there to add a little interest. Pillows for little girl’s bedrooms can always use a little trim. I then trimmed the pillow top to match the pillow form I had on hand and adding 1/2″ both directions for 1/4″ seam allowances on all sides. I added the narrow, 1″ ruffle, but I am sure just it would have been as cute without one, if ruffles aren’t your thing.
The second pillow is all about buttons, and Ella loves colorful buttons. Children’s manufactures seem to use a lot of them to trim little girl’s tops and dresses. This fabric base was a scrap from a decorating project I did for her room at their cabin. Too cute…just couldn’t throw it away. The striped binding was made from a tiny bit leftover from curtains I made for her room. No piecing needed here, just cute fabric and leftover buttons. Start digging…there are cute projects lurking in your sewing room right now. They just need a little bit of creative help.
