Reverse Applique Heart Pillow

Hi, I’m Jamie from busybeequilts back with another pillow tutorial for Valentine’s Day.  This time I wanted to experiment with reverse applique, a simple and fun way to stitch fabric together.  I used the exclusive Friday Bundle Batch called Cherry Fizz - (sold out.) The red, pink, and white color combination is perfect for Valentine’s Day.  This 18” pillow can be whipped up in a couple hours.  Enjoy!

Materials:

• Cherry Fizz fat quarter bundle - Sold Out
• 1/3 yard Moda unbleached linen
• 18” pillow form
• heart template

Instructions:
From the 1/3 yard unbleached linen, cut two 5” strips and subcut each strip into eight 5” x 5” squares.  You will have a total of sixteen 5” squares.
Print out your heart template.  I glued mine to a piece of cardboard (the little square that comes in a charm pack) and cut the template from the cardboard.  Center the template in the middle of each 5” square of linen and trace around the template.
Make a slit in the center of the traced heart.  Use that as a starting point to cut out the heart from the piece of linen.  Don’t worry if your marking line shows after cutting out the heart.  You can flip over the piece of linen so the marks won’t show.

Although you can use pieces of the main fabric that are smaller than 5”, I found it was easiest to place the linen over the main fabric (you can fussy cut if you desire) and then cut the main fabric with scissors.  The main fabric will be underneath.  Pin the linen in place securely.  This fat quarter bundle has 8 total fabrics, so you could cut two of each fabric.  I cut 6-red, 5-pink, 5-white.

Using a zig zag stitch (I set my width to 3.0), stitch around the perimeter of the heart, backstitching when you get to where you started.  Press flat.  Then trim the main fabric very carefully on the reverse, making sure not to clip any of your zig zag stitches.

Lay out your squares in a 4 x 4 grid.  I ordered my blocks red-white-pink from left to right starting in the upper left corner.  It gives the placement a nice random look, but it’s really not random!   Sew your rows together.  Normally I like to press seams open, but in this case it makes sense to nest the seams.  So press each row in alternating directions.

Sew your rows together and press the seams open.

Layer your pillow front with batting and backing.  I chose to quilt in the ditch along the seamlines, but this pillow would look pretty with hand quilting around each heart, echo-stitching inside each heart, or free motion quilting across the entire front.
Add a back to your pillow with whatever method you prefer.  If you want to make an envelope back, you’ll need 2 pieces of fabric that measure 12.5” x 18.5”.  Finish the pillow with binding or serge for a modern look.

If you make this pillow, please share a photo with Lindsey at lindsey@fortworthfabricstudio.com or on Instagram using the hashtag #sewingwithfwfabricstudio.