Criss-Cross Pillow, tutorial part 1

 

When you make patchwork, no matter if it is for large projects like quilts, or for smaller ones like pillows, you always have leftover pieces of fabric, which seem too small to use and too large to throw away.

A few years ago I already made a pillow like this as a swap-gift, so with my boxes of scraps getting a bit too full, I decided to make a new one. And because it is such fun, I made a little tutorial for you.

This is what I used: lots of scraps in different colours and sizes, and an old white pillowcase. This white fabric had a few stains and soft spots, but it was large enough to cut around them.

With the rotary cutter  cut strips of 3/4 inch wide. The strips have to be cut with a straight grain, because they are going to hold the shape of the pillow.
As you can see, some are quite small, and some are large. That is perfect, as long as you keep a few long ones to use at the end.

Then, just start sewing the scraps to the strips; it doesn’t matter what side you use, or what size the scraps have.

Iron the seams in the way you prefer; this time I ironed them to one side.

If you have an idea about the finished size of your pillow, you can go on making pieces like this, until you have the size covered.

The next step is to sew the pieces together. It is important to make sure the coloured pieces are always sewn together with a strip in between. Especially on the sides of the pieces this can be tricky.

I made seam allowances of 1/4 inch.

This way you make a lot of blocks, which become larger and larger as you sew them together.

 

When the blocks become larger, you start ‘looking’ for long lines, to finish the top.

And there you have it; a finished top:

Next time I’ll show how to make this top into a pillow.

Groetjes, Dorien