Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Tutorial: Cathedral window pillow, two ways


Time to make use of those lovely cheater cathedral windows that you made using my cheater cathedral windows tutorial!

Two designs, two sizes!

First up: Making the pillow tops.

For a 21 inch pillow full of windows:

1. make 49 cathedral window blocks and assemble as instructed in cheater cathedral window tutorial and assemble them in a large square, 7 blocks long by 7 blocks wide.
2. Finish internal edges as instructed in tutorial, leaving all outside edges unfinished so the outsides look scalloped.

3. Cut a 21.5 by 21.5 inch piece of fabric that coordinates with your pillow top (I chose the solid grey that outlined my windows.
4. Pin window piece to the square and sew windows to square along outside lines of blocks, along the lines you drew.

5. Press rounded edges inward and finish.

The top is done. There should be a 0.5 inch periphery of fabric around your pillow top to act as your seam.


For a 14 inch pillow with windows set on point:

1. make 9 cheater cathedral windows as described in tutorial.
2. arrange in a diamond shape, with 3 windows on each side. Sew together as in tutorial, and finish these edges, leaving outside and inner edges unfinished.
3. Cut a 14.5 inch square piece of fabric for your pillow top. Center cathedral windows on fabric piece and pin down.
4.Sew along straight lines of outer and inner edges to attach to pillow top fabric, then press scalloped edges inward and finish as in tutorial. The top is done.



To attach pillow backs:

1. Cut two pieces of fabric for the pillow back. I chose a home dec weight fabric.
For 21 inch pillow: cut one piece to 21.5" by 18"; the second to 21.5" by 11"
For 14 inch pillow: cut one piece to 14.5" by 11"; the second to 14.5" by 8"

2.Take long edge of each piece and flip fabric over 0.5" and press. Flip again 0.5", press and sew along edge to finish. (Note- I used the selvedge for one of my finished edges because I liked the fringe look!)

3. Arrange 2 pieces so they overlap, right sides both facing up, with finished edges both in a vertical direction towards the center, and all raw edges outwards. Overlap to make a square of 21.5" and 14.5", respectively. Pin.

4. Take coordinating sized pillow top and align on top of pillow backs, right side down (so that right sides of front and back pieces are facing each other).

5. Sew with 0.5 inch seam along all 4 edges. For 21" full cathedral pillow, be mindful to sew only through the 0.5" peripheral fabric of the pillow top and not to sew the windows themselves. Repeat with a zig zag stitch for added reinforcement. Trim excess.

6. Flip right side out via flaps- be careful of the pins!

7. Stuff with pillow form and admire :)

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial! Feel free to contact me with any questions at:
obsessivecraftingdisorder {at} yahoo {dot} ca

I'd love to see your creations in my Flickr group!

4 comments:

Jenny said...

Very great pillows!! Especially the 2nd one!

Anonymous said...

That looks a super fun way to make those!! I love the gray you used.

bobi said...

Every piece in the picture is beautiful. Lovely guilt colors. Is the fabric vintage? Do you sell, perhaps on Etsy?

Tyler Foss said...

I Love these pillows, great tutorial!