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Raindrop Pillow Tutorial…a great project for spring!
April 11, 2014 - By Sara 9 Comments
So excited to have Sara from The Aqua House here again today, sharing this DARLING Raindrop Pillow Tutorial. This makes me all sorts of excited for spring!
-Ashley
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Spring is here, and if you’re like me, you are looking to freshen up your home with some new accessories. It seems like springtime brings lots of beautiful blossoms and cheery colors into our home decor, but this year I knew I wanted to do something different. That’s when the idea for this Raindrop Pillow was born.
Pillows are one of the easiest ways to change up the feeling of a room, and if you have some fabric and a sewing machine, they are a super fast afternoon project. This is the perfect pillow to toss on your couch, bed, or favorite accent chair.
And those cute little raindrops will have you smiling when they bring the right amount of pattern into your space.
This project was inspired by this beautiful print from Moda’s new fabric line April Showers by Bonnie and Camille. I adore this fabric and wanted to bring the pattern into my home on a larger scale.
Are you ready to make your own Raindrop pillow?
This project is a great scrap buster and almost all of my fabric came from quilt leftovers.
Supplies:
- 2- 18 1/2 inch x 18 1/2 inch pieces of solid color fabric
- 7 different printed fabrics, at least a 7 inch square in size
- Scraps you can cut into 1 1/2 x 6 inch strips (or 1/8 yard cuts of 5 different fabrics)
- basting spray or Heat N Bond Fusible Adhesive
- single fold bias tape (optional)
- 18″ pillow form or polyester fiber fill
- Raindrop template (or you can free-hand your own, making sure it is 6″ tall)
First, lay your seven different prints together so they are neatly stacked. Next, take your raindrop template and securely pin it through all seven layers of fabric. Using good quality fabric shears, cut around the template. You should now have seven raindrops.
Next, we are going to make our strippy raindrops. From your scrap material, cut 1 1/2 inch strips, then sub-cut them into 6 inch strips. You will need 30 1 1/2 x 6 inch strips.
First, lay five strips together, alternating patterns. Second, sew the strips together using 1/4 inch seam allowance. Press all seams open. Third, pin your raindrop template to the strips on the diagonal. Fourth, cut around your template to get your strippy raindrop. Repeat until you have six strippy raindrops.
We are now going to take one of our print raindrops and two of the strippy raindrops and cut them in half. (This is so that you can stagger them on the pillow and have some running off the pillow.)
Now lay down one of your 18 1/2 inch square pieces of fabric in front of you. This will be your pillow front. You will arrange the raindrops on the pillow front in staggered vertical lines, like the pattern below. Place a top half of a raindrop and bottom half of raindrop where they complete the pattern. You will discard (or put back in your scrap bin, ha!) one of the strippy raindrop bottoms.
Continue until all the raindrops fill the pillow and space your raindrops 1 inch apart vertically and 3/4 inch apart horizontally. Keep all raindrops 3/4 inch from the edge of the fabric.
Now you will need to fuse the raindrops to the pillow front. I feel it’s best to use Heat N Bond fusible adhesive (follow package directions) as it will give you the firmest hold. However, you can also use a spray adhesive such as:
This is what I used because I had it on hand, however it most definitely is a temporary adhesive and you will still need pins to hold your raindrops in place while you stitch. You will get better results using Heat N Bond. (More on Fusible Adhesives here.)
Next, you will appliqué the raindrops onto the pillow front using the stitch of your choice. I chose to use a blanket stitch.
**This next step is optional if you want to add bias tape trim to your pillow. But you can skip this step and continue on with sewing the pillow cover closed.
Now it is time to get out that single fold bias tape and iron it in half. You will pin it to the front of the pillow, with the closed side facing the center of the pillow. Begin at a corner and pin all around the perimeter of the pillow shape, 1/8 inch in from the edge. When you reach a corner, curve it around the corner as best you can, trying to keep the corner shape as best as you can. As you reach the final corner, cross your ends as shown below, to give a nice finished look. Sew bias tape onto pillow front making sure the edge of your pillow maintains a 1/4 inch seam allowance.
After your bias is stitched to the front, place the pillow front right side down on the other 18 1/2″ x 18 1/2″ piece of fabric. Pin together, leaving an 8 inch opening on one side. When you stitch the pillow front and back together, make sure that you stitch on the pillow front side, using the previous stitch line as a guide. This way you won’t accidentally over stitch and bury your bias tape.
Turn the pillow right side out, poke out the corners, and iron flat. Iron the 8 inch gap you left open, towards the inside of the pillow 1/4 inch. Then slip the pillow form (or fiber fill) through the hole and pin closed.
Use a slip stitch to close the pillow. You did it!
Now go find the perfect place to put those cute little raindrops. Mine has taken up residence on my bed.
Enjoy!
-Sara
