Today we are switching things up, and instead of featuring projects using our paper collections, we are sharing projects created with our fabric collections!
Camera Pillow, by Nichol Majouirk.
As much as I love piecing big quilts sometimes I need a smaller project and my favorite is pillow covers! I love that with a new pillow cover you can completely change the look of a room. My way of sewing pillow covers has evolved over the years and my current method is by far my favorite for a few reasons.
First, all my pillow covers are removable. I have kids and a dog and they need washed periodically plus I like to switch them out and a removable pillow cover makes it easy to do that. However, I personally don’t like envelope backs for my pillows even though they are the easiest to sew. I think they make the pillows lose their shape and just don’t look as nice over time.
All of my pillow covers have zippers. I tried the invisible zipper thing many, many times and sometimes it looked okay and most of the time it didn’t. I can’t seem to master that technique! I came across THIS tutorial for adding zippers under a hidden flap on the back of pillow covers and it changed my whole pillow making process. All my pillow covers are sewn this way now and I’ve never been happier. The pillow forms come out and go in so easy, the pillows have nice shape due to a zipper closure and they look nice and finished with that hidden zipper panel!
Second, I always, always add lining to the backing fabric (and sometimes the front if I’m not quilting the front). It’s an extra step and it takes a bit longer to get to the pillow cover sewing, but it’s so worth the extra effort! I follow the steps in THIS tutorial here and this makes the pillow cover mush sturdier and it holds up better over time.
Third, my pillow covers are all exactly the size of the pillow form I’m using or 1/2” bigger. For example, my pillow form for the camera pillow cover was 20” square and I cut my backing and quilted front to 20 1/2” square. This will give you a firm and full pillow. If you like your pillow covers to fit a bit looser, you might want to go up 3/4” to 1” bigger than the pillow form you’re using.
For my pillow today, I was inspired by the Riley Blake Bella Blvd Snapshots Camera Multi fabric to create this pillow form for my teen daughter’s room (her room is done in aqua/black/white). I backed my pillow cover with the camera fabric but for the front I used THIS awesome free download from Fat Quarter Shop, part of their Snapshots Quilt Along. The download is free however the quilt along benefits St. Jude and if you can, they ask that you donate to St. Jude for each download. I give $5 for each of the designs I download. It’s for a great cause! The camera block is part of the quilt backing design but by adding just a couple of simple borders you can make it into a pillow so easily! I’ve included a sketch of how I made my pillow and the sizes of the borders.
I combined lots of Riley Blake Bella Blvd Fabric scraps from my stash to piece together the camera and Instead of solid white for all the background I used my favorite, favoritest Snapshots Family Gray. I love the white background with gray doodles. It’s almost embarrassing how much yardage I have of this print! I quilted the front with a diagonal grid straight line quilting and used that great Snapshots Camera Multi fabric for the back.
Supplies:
Bella Blvd Snapshots fabrics by Riley Blake Designs; Bella Blvd Summer Breeze fabrics by Riley Blake Designs; Bella Blvd Puppy Park fabrics by Riley Blake Designs
American Girl Doll Dress, byChristine Ousley.
Doll clothes have been around for centuries and the trend continues today. American Girl dolls are very popular right now with girls of all ages. I’ve always had fun making clothes for them.
Sometimes it’s an original dress or sometimes it is a miniature version of a big girl dress so that they can match.
I love using Bella Blvd fabric when I am making them. These adorable prints in the Snapshots collection are so fun and sweet. I just love the little hearts.
A bright pink sash completes the outfit. Now, wouldn’t your little girl love to dress her doll in “Bella Blvd” style? It certainly would make a fun scrapbook page too!
Supplies:
Bella Blvd Snapshots fabric for Riley Blake Designs
*******************************************************
Riley Blake Designs markets our fabrics under Stephanie Hunt as the designer. When purchasing or searching the Riley Blake website it's actually easier & more efficient to find the Bella Blvd fabrics under "Stephanie Hunt" as the artist.
These are both gorgeous!!!!!
Posted by: Julie Tucker-Wolek | June 28, 2015 at 12:34 AM
That doll dress is adorable!! Makes me wish my daughters were still little, so I could make something like that for them.
Posted by: Michelle | July 11, 2015 at 10:00 AM