I love these pillows because they’re such a quick finish. Yesterday I ironed all the pieces into place and stitched around them. That’s actually the part that takes the longest. I think I’ve officially decided a straight, short stitch about 1/16″ from the edge is the way to go on these. With some really tiny pieces, a zigzag, satin, or blanket stitch can end up not looking as pretty. I’ve seen variations of this quilting pattern and thought I’d give it a try. Overall it went pretty well and I think there was only one time when I backed myself so deep into the middle that I had to stop and start. The first thing I did was to stitch around the letters though to make them pop.
The quilting pattern is really easy and can be done on a domestic, sit down or long arm. It starts with a swirl and then back down to the start, and then enough proportional feathers around the outside of the swirl to make them fit. Then I echoed around nearly all the feathers. Travel to an open spot and do it all over again! The only thing to remember is sew the swirl to the left if you plan to travel to the right or down for the next set; swirl to the right if you plan to travel up or to the left for the next one as you work your way around the pieces.
I took a picture of the back and made a mirror image since I thought it came out almost as cute as the front!
I love it! So creative and pretty! Can I get your opinion? I’m not a quilter but an aspiring fabric print designer. When designing the repeats was size should the illustrations be to appeal to quilters? If seeing samples of my designs helps, here is a link https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/eileenmckenna. Thank you so much, I appreciate any input you can provide! – Eileen
Eileen, those are really cute patterns! Quilters by definition are going to cut up any piece of fabric you give them, so small scale is always good. Generally the smallest blocks are 4″ although the more common “small” block is 6″. Medium is 8-9″ and then a large block is usually 12″ or so. Inside each block can be several pieces though. For instance, a 9″ block with a 9-patch means it’s 3 blocks wide times 3 blocks long; in other words, each finished square ie 3″. A 9-patch on a 6″ block would be only 2″ square finished, and a 12″ block would have 4″ squares for that same 9-patch.
That’s a long way of saying my instinct tells me somewhere between 2 and 4″ for the repeat at the most. I have many, many pieces in blocks that are much smaller but the pattern – and the repeat within the pattern – is going to get lost in there anyway so it doesn’t matter. But a large print on a bolt will make me walk past it nearly every time because I want to be able to see the design within at least some of the blocks, particularly if it’s something identifiable like toy soldiers or gardening gloves.
I would actually say the print size is more important than the repeat. If you can make the fabric so that the identifiable objects are 1-2″ in height and/or width then I think that would have the most appeal from a general perspective. Now that I’ve said all of that….there are definitely a lot of blocks that use a larger print so this is just based on what I have the most of in my fabric stash. I have one with hearts that are 1/4″ in dimension which is great. I have some with letters from the Chinese language that are about 1 1/2″ that are also perfect. I tend to go more for the randomness in the patterns such as what you have for sandcastles or Valntine’s day where everything isn’t in a straight line, but there are some patterns that definitely call for the straight lines. For instance, the nutcrackers could go either way – in a straight line like you have them, or also in random directions so that each one is its own unique character.
Wow! Thank you so much for all of that. The 1-2″ inches on the size of the illustration is good advice. I’ll definitely use that. It’s invaluable to me to have a quilters perspective. One other question – is it better to have everything right side up? I realized when the design is on wrapping paper, it’s good to have things visible from all directions right side up, which means some elements end up upside down. But what about for quilting?
I would say the direction doesn’t matter at all, at least not to me. I do know people who line every piece “right side up” on their quilt, even on angled pieces like an 8 pointed star. But the vast majority of people prefer to use less fabric and cut with the grain instead of having every single piece face the same direction, so multi-directional fabric won’t make any difference.
Thank you again for all your helpful advice!
Extremely adorable!
Thank you!
Very cute & cheerful
Thank you!
I love that duck, makes me smile!
Thank you! She has a tiny little 2nd part of her mouth that confused me when I was laying out the pieces but I finally figured it out!
This is so cute! Great job with the FM feather swirls. They look perfect with the spring design. I might just have to try some pillow covers myself!
Thank you! I really like feathers; they make it easy to fill just about every imaginable type of space so they were perfect for this.
Perfect finish for today! Cute
Thank you! My husband waltzed on by it last night w/o seeing it so I asked him to take 3 steps back and see if he noticed anything new in the foyer – haha!
Lol! I’ve had to do that myself.
Glad to know I’m not the only one!
Great idea!
Thank you!