Project: Bohemian Pillow Cover

Recently I've been selling a few quilts through facebook.  I'm not ready to have a full fledged business and set up an etsy or anything, but I really enjoy the process and an order here and there gives me a little extra cash and is really building my scrap pile.   I don't have any orders currently, so I've been working on a few projects for myself.  I like to bounce around, I currently have 2 scrap quilts started and one in progress as a gift for a family member.

Then, a few days ago as I was blog browsing I ran across this Pillow by Maureen Cracknell Handmade.  I saw if first in the background of a photo on a recent post; and I LOVED IT!  It's one of those things I couldn't get out of my head so I spent some time yesterday going through her blog and Flickr stream until I found the post linked above with better photos of the pillow.  She was inspired by a pillow from West Elm.

Once  got a closer look at it, I immediately got started on my own version.

I went through my scrap bin and pulled out some of my favorites.  The pillow I used is 18", so I cut a 19" square of a neutral fabric then started cutting 1 1/4" strips.  I used the 60 degree mark on my quilt ruler and cut them so that each band is 4 1/2" wide.  Once I figured out my arrangement, I pressed everything nicely.  I wanted to secure them before I stitched them on and I was out of heat'n'bond, so I just used some craft glue.  Once everything was glued, I trimmed my square down to 18 1/2" to make it a little neater.  After giving the glue a little time to dry, I stitched across all of the strips on all 4 sides 1/4" from the edges.

I love it!  It has some of my favorites from Pat Bravo, Amy Butler, and Anna Marie Horner to stuff from the clearance bin at Walmart and cast offs from family members.

Once the front was done, I cut 2 pieces of solid fabric for the back each with one edge hemmed, then overlapped them and pinned in place with right sides facing each other.  Then I was able to sew all the way around without having to use a zipper or leave an opening.  The cover basically works like a pillow sham.  It's very practical.  I think I am going to make more covers this way because they can be removed to wash but don't require cost and effort of adding a zipper.