Project Archives

 Project #1
Fun Project for May
 

A MODERN BRODERIE PERSE PILLOW

Materials List:

• Fat Quarter of Background Fabric (in this case plum colored

• Fat Quarter of Complimentary Fabric for back of pillow

• 12" Pillow form

• Fabric with motifs, in this project, a selection from Flower Show by Benartex, and a leaf fabric by

• Steam-A - Seam Lite 2©

• Paper Solvy by Sulky

• Assorted Glitter© Thread by Superior Threads, Rainbow Thread by Superior, Masterpiece Threads by Superior, rayon threads

We are going to cut flower and leaf motifs from printed fabric. In the "old days" either a very narrow edge would be turned under and  needle turn appliquéd by hand, or the edge would be stitched down with a fine even buttonhole stitch. This technique is faster and has a nice visual impact.

The completed design may be used in many ways. I needed a couch cushion so this one became a pillow. It could also have been a tote bag, a wall hanging, a decorative patch for a jacket or as I used my last one to give for a community made comfort quilt for a friend.

I chose my motif fabrics.

(Images can be clicked on to enlarge them.)

I auditioned background fabrics with the motifs and chose a plum that I cut into a 12" square.

Then I cut a flower an three leaves from the fabric, and put the cut out motifs between the two papers on the surface of a sheet of Steam-A-Seam Lite II©

I made sure that the rough bonding surface was to the wrong side of the motifs. Then using steam I ironed the Steam-A-Seam Lite II© to the motifs.

I removed the top paper and cut out the fused motifs and removed the bottom paper. Then I tried various arrangements on the background fabric.

Choosing the arrangement on the above right, I ironed it to the background fabric. Remember Steam-A-Seam II requires steam to fuse.

Going to the sewing machine and a walking foot, I satin stitched the edge down. The stitch width was set at 2.5 width and .25 stitch length. If the shape is large enough and the sides smooth enough, I prefer to use a walking foot for this as it results in a very even satin stitch. The edges of the leaves were stitched in Aurfil 50 Mako chartreuse variegated thread, the flower was edged with a Superior Rainbow Thread. The stitching on this is quite subtle. It could have been done in any type of thread for whatever effect you wish.

Now comes the fun part. Choose threads to enhance the details, change the emphasis, change color or intensify colors.

I use a basket to keep the threads I am working with together. It keeps me from spending time trying to find the thread I just had. I do not drop the feed dogs when I free motion stitch. On some machines, when you use a design stitch you must keep the feed dogs up. The blue in the center of the flower was a pre-programmed stitch that is stitched a doughnut shaped reinforcement circle. You could just use a zig-zag stitch and very slowly stitch in a circle. This will pile up the stitches a bit to provide some dimension. With zig-zag stitch selected I stitched around in a ragged circle with dark blue Glitter thread and then I zigzag stitched several times around in the circle with a lilac colored Glitter thread so that the color and shine was more intense. You can see I am using a free motion foot.

I decided to do long rows of stitching with Superior Metallic Silver and blue Glitter thread. On the areas where the printed motif appears to be turned up, I stitched more heavily with the silver thread. As a final stitch I stitched with silver thread around a few of the drops on the leaves as well as puttin a small dot of Masterpiece Purple thread in the very center of the flower. The threads I used are in the picture below left.

Completed design

Now for the pillow part. There are many ways to make a pillow cover. I chose a quick easy version.

I cut 2" wide strips. I cut 2 of the strips to a 12" length ans I also cut 2 strips of 16" each.  I stitched the 12" long pieces  to each side of the square and then pressed the block , pressing the seams toward the main par of the block.. Then I stitched the 16 " pieces to the top and bottom.

Then I auditioned trims to the piece and picked a turquoise Madeira Carat which is a metallic ribbon floss. There are several ways to stitch this in [lace. I used a zig-zag stitch with Sew Art International clear thread and applied the ribbon on the seam lines. I could also have used a double needle to sew parallel; rows of stitching down the side. The zig-zag stitch was about the width of the ribbon floss so it stitched through the floss some of the time, but mostly just trapped the ribbon underneath the stitches. I prefer Sew Art International for many projects as it is less reflective of the light and I wanted the glitz to be the ribbon itself not the clear thread.

Next I cut a 16" square of batting. I had some polyester batting left over and used that. Then I quilted around the edge of the applique and continued echo quilting out for the width of the pillow. (even thought the picture does not look like it, it really is square!)I used the Sew Art International thread again as I wanted the quilting to be subtle. You just use 2 layers for the this quilt, the top and the batting.

We decided on the same plum fabric for the back of the quilt. I cut two pieces 16" (the width of the top) X 12". I turned a seam under on one long side of each piece.

Each piece covers more than half of the pillow. Lay your quilted pillow top on the table, right side up. Matching one unfinished edge of each piece to the top and bottom edges of the pillow top, put the two pieces overlapping and right side down on the right side of the pillow top. Sew all the way around. Turn the pillow case and poke the corners out. I then take my pillow form and wrap 2 layers of batting around it and slip it inside of the case. The right hand picture shows the overlap on the back of the pillow. There we have it, a finished pillow. Please send pictures of what you do with this idea. we would love to see them.

Some other examples of this technique: