Christmas in July {Quilted Patchwork Pillows}

My name is Erica and my blog is 5 Little Monsters. On my blog you will find lots of free crochet patterns, sewing tutorials, embroidery ideas and more. I was really excited to participate in the Christmas in July Series here at Fort Worth Fabric Studio. Every year I want to make myself some kind of Christmas decor, a quilt, or a pillow, or something, for my home but by the time I get around to thinking about it it is almost Christmas and I am busy working on gifts for other people. So, every year it seems like Christmas comes and goes without ever having time to make that something for my house. Christmas in July seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally tackle that project. I am so excited to share the pillows that I made with you today, I absolutely loved the way they turned out.

I decided quite a while ago that I wanted to make a pillow. I knew I wanted to make it kind of scrappy and that I wanted to include some embroidery. As I looked through the Christmas fabric, trying to decide which fabric to use, I came across the Evergreen line and I loved the colors and the prints. The colors were pretty traditional reds and greens and that was really what inspired me to choose the design I did. I wanted to make something that had kind of a classic, traditional feel to it. I decided that rather than make one pillow I would make a set and that I would embroider a phrase across the two pillows. The phrase I chose is "Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men" so one pillow says Peace on Earth and the other says Goodwill toward Men.

The pillow is made by alternating patchwork sections with embroidered strips. The patchwork sections are quilted with some simple straight line quilting. The finished pillows are 16 inches square.

Patchwork Peace on Earth Pillows

Instructions/fabric amounts are to make 2 pillows

You Will Need:

• 1/8 yard of 10 different Evergreen Prints (small squares)
• 1/4 yard of Grunge Basics Marshmallow (embroidered strips)
• 1/2 yard of Goodwill Marshmallow (backing)
• 1/2 yard of muslin (lining)
• 2- 18 inch squares of thin batting (I used Fusi-Boo Fusible Batting)
• Embroidery Floss: DMC 471 (light green), DMC 890 (dark green), DMC 321 (red)
• 2- 16 inch pillow inserts
• Embroidery pattern Part 1 and Part 2

Cutting Instructions:

From each 1/8 yard print:

10- 2 1/2 inch squares

From Grunge Basics Marshmallow

4- 2 1/2 x 16 1/2 inch strips

From Goodwill Marshmallow

4- 16 1/2 x 11 inch pieces

From muslin

2- 18 inch squares

Assembly:

Step 1: Pieced Sections

Layout your small squares into sections of 8 squares by 2 squares. Using 1/4 inch seam allowance sew together strips of 8 squares, then sew 2 strips together to make your pieced section. You will need 6 of these sections. Press all of your seams.

Step 2: Prepare your strips

I traced the embroidery pattern onto my strips before sewing to the pieced sections but I did not embroider then until later. To get the the strips ready to be sewn you will first need to print the pattern for the embroidery. Each strip will have 2 sections of the pattern that will need to be traced on, a word section and a holly section (the holly section that matches up with each word is below the word on the paper). Cut out each of the pattern sections so that you can lay the matching pieces side by side. place them so that you have about 3 inches of the strip on either side of the pattern and so that they will centered in the strip leaving plenty of room above and below for seam allowances. Trace using a washable pen or pencil. The layout should be:

Strip 1: Peace (holly/swirl/holly)

Strip 2: (hollly with leaves in same direction/swirl) on Earth

Strip 3: (holly with leaf on both sides of berries/swirl) Goodwill

Strip 4: to Men (holly with 3 leaves)

Step 3: Sew together

Sew your pieced sections and strip together so that you have a pieced section on top, the first strip (peace/goodwill), another pieced section, second strip (on earth/to men), and then the last pieced section. Press seams.

Step 4: Layer and Quilt

Layer your square of muslin, batting, and pillow top right side up. Because I used a fusible batting I pressed all of my layers together so that everything stayed together nicely for the quilting. Quilt the pieced sections, I just made 4 big x's through the squares.

Step 5: Embroider 

Embroider the design using 3 strands of embroidery floss. I used backstitch for the entire design (except for one french knot to dot the i). Use red for the words and berried, dark green for the holly leaves, light green for the swirls. 

Step 6: Assemble the Pillows

Now that your top is complete, trim the excess batting and lining , Your top should measure about 16 1/2 inches square. Prepare your pillow back by hemming one long side of each piece with a narrow hem. Place pillow top face up, lay one back piece face down with raw edges lined up with top and sides and hemmed edge in the middle, lay the next back piece face down with the hemmed edge toward the middle and the raw edges lined up with bottom and sides. Pin and sew around the outside edge of the pillow. Turn right side out, I like to press it at this point just to make it nice and flat. Insert your pillow forms into your pillows. 

I hope you enjoy these pillows, I loved the way mine turned out. Now I can't wait for Christmas so that I can have them out on my couch. Thanks Fort Worth Fabric Studio for having me here today and for providing me with such great fabric to make these pillows.

I want to thank Erica for stopping by for Christmas in July! Be sure to stop by her blog for lots of great ideas and tutorials.

You can find Erica:

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