You may or may not be aware of this, but Art Gallery Fabrics has been recoloring many of their popular prints in their new Fusions Collections. And when I first laid my eyes on this Woodlands Fusion when it was first being developed, I knew that I had to slice it up and make something pretty.
And much like may of my projects, I didn’t really know what I was going to make until the time apportioned in my schedule for this got a little closer. It almost becomes like a slot machine in my head where I spin the lever and a something from my mental rolodex of projects comes forward. For this project, it was Missouri Star‘s Easy Cathedral Window Tutorial that I had seen on their YouTube Channel a couple years ago.
When I began, I committed to myself that I’d make two pillows for the party. And clearly, once I got started, I couldn’t stop myself and ended up making four. I decided that each pillow would feature two prints from the collection and one solid smooth denim. The first pillow was a combination of Bonnie Christine‘s Row by Row & AGF Studio’s Joie de Clair prints with the Indygo Shadow Solid Smooth Denim.
In case any of y’all want to make the same size pillows, I’ll share some of the process for this pillow to give you an idea of my scale and then focus solely on the final product for the other three. I knew that I wanted a final 20″ x 20″ pillow form, so I used 5 1/2″ x 5 1/2″ squares instead of the 5×5 as suggested in the video and a 1/4″ seam allowance when sewing. Beyond that, the video is pretty perfect so there’s not much I could add other than it was soooo much easier than I’d envisioned it would be in my head.
I used a Very Dark Navy 28 wt Aurifil for the top stitching and quilting on the back of this pillow. To see how I do these quilted snapped envelop pillow backs, here’s a link to my original tutorial. Just adjust the dimensions for what you need. Seriously, it’ll be your favorite backside forever ever.
For the second pillow, which I designed as a complement to the first, I used Bari J.‘s Paradis & Miss Thread prints paired with the same denim. I had to use the more solid print to frame the flowers, so I went with the denim in the background for this one. I used a 12 wt Paprika for top stitching and quilting the pillow back, which was divine.
And see, here they are together all living together in perfect harmony.
After I had finished this second pillow, I realized I had enough time before my day in the sewing party to make another one. Yaaaaay! Since I hadn’t used the denim in the center window spot yet, I decided that’s where it had to go otherwise I just wouldn’t feel complete. However, the blue denim didn’t work with the pairing of Bonnie Christine’s Buck Forest & Pruning Roses prints, so I went with the Nectarine Sunrise. I paired these two prints together because I thought it was a fun quirky pairing, but the pillow turned out to be really classy I think. I used 28 wt Muslin Aurifil for the top stitching and quilting.
Once I was done with this one, it felt all lonely like it needed a partner using the same denim. So I paired Maureen Cracknell‘s Wreathed and Sharon Holland‘s Ink Outburst prints knowing that this would be my party pillow. For the top stitching and quilting, I used Aurifil 50 wt Pale Pink and I also decided to switch up the pillow backs instead of making this pair matchy-matchy with their fronts.
And here this second pair is looking all cute together.
Yaaaaaaaaay! Seriously these pillows were so crazy fun to make and they already have a permanent on my couch. And thanks for checking out my post on the final stop of the Mister Domestic’s Sewing Party 2. In case you haven’t check out the other makers in the party, here’s the line-up:
- August 28th – Justin Stafford of Keaton Quilts (Le Vintage Chic)
- August 29th – Kristi McDonough of Schnitzel and Boo (Reverie)
- August 30th – Paola Baker of Love of Fabrics (Bachelorette)
- August 31st – Alisa Kutsel of A Stitch in Between (Spices)
- September 1st – Elise Baek of Elise and Emelie (Le Vintage Chic)
- September 2nd – Mathew Boudreaux of Mister Domestic (Woodlands) @
I also filmed a little video with the final pillow sewing up one of the windows on Felicia.
These are awesome!