Christmas in July Blog Hop: Day 4

Today Wendy from Ivory Spring is sharing a peppermint pillow duo tutorial here on the blog. She paired the bold red and white Peppermint Twist fabrics from Kanvas with solid black for graphic pillows that pop! What a fun combination that would add some fresh holiday flavor to your home! After you read through Wendy's tutorial, see how to win your own Peppermint Twist bundle at the bottom, and head over to Wendy's blog to see her beautiful work! And now, here's Wendy!

Hi everyone, I'm Wendy from Ivory Spring, and I'm here to share a tutorial with a twist, using the Peppermint Twist fabrics: These simple holiday-themed pillows actually illustrate quite a few tricks and techniques: 

1.  Quilted Pillow Top.  Since I am a quilter (if you have known me for a period of time, you know that quilting and I get along really well, but not garment construction!), I like to use batting to construct my pillow top.  The idea is to prepare the pillow top as I would normally a quilt sandwich, except the finishing part is different.  I do not bind my "pillow sandwich" to make it into a quilt, but rather finish it to make a pillowcase.  Plus, I get to use up my batting scrap pieces.  I feel the batting gives my pillow top slightly more body, and so my pillow top doesn't feel "thin."

2. Fabric Selection.  

When choosing fabrics for a simple design, I like to choose fabrics that in no uncertain terms make a statement.

Contrast among fabrics often makes the final look stand out.  In this case, there are three contrasting looks, if you will, in the selected fabrics that draw the eye when one looks at the pillow.

a.  Contrast between scale of prints.  Large lollipops vs. small candy canes

b.  Contrast between busy-ness of prints.  Busy tossed candy prints vs. less busy wave print.

c.  Contrast between solid and prints.  Black vs. print fabrics.

3. Contrasting Quilting.  Red (or any color) on black quilting always produces a striking visual effect!  Simple way to embellish.

4. Piece ONCE to make two pillows.  You would piece the stripes cut across width of fabrics, and then cut from the pieced stripes 1 (16-1/2 " x 16-1/2") square and 1 (12-1/2" x 16-1/2") rectangle to make two pillow tops for two pillows.

5. Simple Complementing the Complex.  The pillows complement another pillow made previously, making a cute little display.

Note:  Please read through all instructions before attempting project.

Supplies (fabrics from the Peppermint Twist collection)

Pillow top fabrics: 

1/4 yard Swirl Lollipop Black (5710-12)

1/8 yard Black Solid

1/8 yard Wave Red/White (5341-10)

1/8 yard Candy Cane White (5709-9)

Pillow back fabric :

1/2 yard Candy Cane Black (5709-12), or fabric of choice

1/2 yard Peppermints Black (5711-12), or fabric of choice

Additional supplies for rectangular pillow:

14" x 18" batting piece

14" x 18" pillow sandwich backing fabric (anything will do because no one will see it)

(1) 12" x 16" pillow form insert

Additional supplies for square pillow:

18" x 18" batting piece

18" x 18" pillow sandwich backing fabric (anything will do because no one will see it)

(1) 16" x 16" pillow form insert

... and basic sewing notions

Cutting

1.  Cut from the fabrics:

Swirl Lollipop Black 8-1/2" x WOF (width of fabric)

Black Solid 2-1/2" x (width of fabric)

Wave Red/White 3-1/2" x (width of fabric)

Candy Cane White 3-1/2" x (width of fabric)

2.  Cut from Candy Cane Black fabric, 2 (16-1/2" x 16-1/2") squares for pillow back.

3.  Cut from Peppermint Black fabric, 2 (12-1/2" x 16-1/2") rectangles for pillow back.

Asssembling Pillow Tops

1.  Now, you are ready to sew the stripes together with a 1/4" seam allowance.

2.  You should have a sewn unit of pieced strips that measures 16-1/2" (horizontal) x width of fabric (vertical), based on the shown diagram.

3.  Measure vertically and cut across the sewn unit (yellow line) to yield 1 (12-1/2" x 16-1/2") rectangle and 1 (16-1/2" x 16-1/2") square.  Those will be your two pillow tops.

4.  Assemble pillow sandwiches staring from the bottom, and pin baste: 

14" x 18" backing fabric + 14" x 18" batting piece + 12-1/2" x 16-1/2" pieced pillow top; 18"x 18" backing fabric + 18" x 18" batting piece + 16-1/2" x 16-1/2" pieced pillow top

{Note:  From now on, the construction/pillow assembly instructions should apply to both square and rectangular pillow.  Just make sure the appropriate measurements are noted and used for each pillow.}

5.  Quilt pillow sandwiches as desired.  I just did very simple straight line quilting.  I then added optional buttons to the rectangular pillow sandwich, purely for embellishment purposes.

6.  Trim excess batting and backing to the edge of pieced pillow top.  You will see that I also stay-stitched the corners 1/4" from the edge to keep the pillow top sandwich "squared up."

7.  Zig-zag around the edges to reduce the bulk.  Since I sew with 1/4" seam allowances, I make sure my "zig" is less than 1/4" wide.  I actually also zig-zag around my quilt sandwiches before I bind my quilts. Read more about it here.

[Note:  The pillow top is completed at this point - you may choose the method of your choice to complete the pillow case.  I used the envelope closure method, explained below.]

Assembling the Pillow Case (Using the square pillowcase as example)

1.  Turn under ¼” on one of the candy cane black 16-1/2" x 16-1/2" square.  Turn again about 4” and press.  Edge stitch to hold the ‘flap’ in place.  It's a great time to use your edge stitch foot if it usually just sits in your presser foot box.  Repeat for the other square.

2.  Place the  pillow top wrong side down.  Then lay the pillow backing squares on the pillow top, right sides together.  Adjust the pillow backing squares accordingly, and trim off any excess from the 16-1/2" x 16-1/2” area that is not covering the pillow top.  [Note: Place the piece which you want to be the top flap of the pillow back FIRST onto the pillow top, before the piece you want to be the bottom flap of the envelope closure.]

You see in the following diagram how the layers to place on top of each other - in real life, the edges should all be matching.  I have staggered them to give you an idea on the placement.  From the bottom up... right side of pillow top, front flap of pillow back, back flap of pillow back.

3.  Pin and stitch the pieces together.  

4.  Trim around the corners.  Finish by zig-zagging the seam allowance to reduce the bulk of all the pieces stitched together.

5.  Turn the pillowcase right side out.  Press and insert pillow form.

I have displayed the pillows with my Midwinter Night pillow I made last year using Benartex's Fossil Fern and Wintersong.  More information about Midwinter Night pillow can be found here.  A group of pillows with different looks is always an interesting display because it keeps the eye busy trying to take in everything!

Thanks Wendy! Your pillows look almost good enough to eat! :) 

To win a fat quarter bundle of the Peppermint Twist collection, sign up to follow our blog using either Bloglovin' or the email feature (both in the right sidebar). Then leave a comment below this post telling us that you are a follower and letting us know your favorite holiday flavor--is it peppermint, or something else? This giveaway will be open through Thursday, August 1 at 11:59 pm EST.

If you missed the other tutorials from the Christmas in July blog hop, click on the links below:

Day 1: Ho-Ho-Ho, Let It Snow advent calendar, click here.

Day 2: Christmas Spectacular table runner tutorial, click here.  

Day 3: Snowfolk Mantel quilt tutorial, click here.

And...don't forget to head over to our Facebook page and enter a recipe in our Christmas cookie exchange--we'll be compiling all the entries into a pdf recipe book to share!