I saw this pillow at Anthropologie and was inspired to try my own version. The original pillow is made up of patches of stripped wool sew together with an embroidered whip-stitch detail and side zipper.
Cute? Right?
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I made a 20 inch envelope style pillow cover using a third of a yard each of 4 different striped upholstery weight fabrics for the front and a 1/2 yard of fabric for the back. I actually used kitchen towels for two of my striped patches. You can find kitchen towels in all kinds of great stripe patterns.
( Note: 1/3 of a yard will make two pillows, but if you make two you’ll need to buy a yard of fabric for the back.)
You’ll also need a skein of DMC floss for the embroidery.
First you’ll want to cut your fabric. I tried to make it easy with diagrams. You’ll want to make sure the stripes are in the direction of the arrows in the diagram.
After your fabrics are cut, it is time to sew them together. All seams allowances are a 1/2″. With right sides together, sew A to B and then sew C to D. Press seams open.
Now, it is time to sew A/B to C/D.
The top is finished except for the embroidery. You could skip this part and still have a cute pillow, but it is this detail that I love the most about the pillow.
The embroidery is done along all the seam lines. Cut a 30 inch piece of the floss and thread it into the needle. You’ll want a needle that is sharp and has a big enough eye to fit the six strands of floss, but not so big that you’ll have trouble sewing through the layers. Knot the end of the floss. Begin by coming up through the back of the top at (A) go back down through the top at (B) and then back up at (C) catching the floss under the needle. That makes the right side blanket stitch. To make the left side stitch go back down at (D) and then come back up at (E). My stitches are about a 1/4 inch apart. Repeat these steps back and forth on each side of the seam.
To end you’ll want to take a little stitch to hold the last stitch in place (see below) and knot the back and you should have something that looks like this.
To make the envelope back of the pillow, cut two pieces of fabric 13-1/2 inches by 21 inches. Take the two 13 -1/2″ x 21″ back pieces and with the right side facing down on the ironing board, turn up raw edge 1/4″ on one of the 21″ sides and press. Turn up another 1/4″ again and press. Pin and sew just inside folded edge. Repeat with other 13-1/2″ x 21″ piece.
Lay the pillow top with the blanket stitch facing up. Take one the the 13-1/2″ x 21″ pieces and lay it face down lining up the 21″ raw side with the edge of the top and with the finished edge towards the middle. Next, lay the second back piece face down with it’s raw edges lined up and the finished edge towards the center. The centers will overlap. Pin edges together and using a 1/2″ seam allowance sew all the way around the outer edge. Clip corners and turn pillow right side out and stuff with a 20″ pillow form.
So cute! Thanks for the wonderful tutorial! 🙂
xoxo laurie
Love this. Thanks for posting great instructions.
Ciao
I really like yours alot better than theirs!! So pretty!
Mary, it looks awesome! Great tutorial! It’s precious!
Melody
Mary, that is one amazing pillow! I actually like yours much, much better than your Anthro inspiration. Seriously. I’m pinning this!
Thanks so much for linking up to our Pillopalooza slumber party!
🙂
Linda
Mary,
You are such a rock star. I love the Anthro knock-off….but I am totally pinning the swiss cross too!
Thanks for linking up to the Pillow Palooza party!
blessings,
karianne