Tuesday, June 17, 2014

The Weekend in Stitches: Modern Triangles - A Patchwork Pillow Cover

Weekend sewing looked like this:

Modern Triangles - Patchwork by Red Pepper Quilts
Modern Triangles - Patchwork by Red Pepper Quilts

These traditional patchwork units with a modern design/layout have been on my mind for a while ... and that which gets into my head needs to come out eventually. Rather than try out this free style design on a large project, like a quilt, I decided to go small scale first.

Modern Triangles - Patchwork Pillow by Red Pepper Quilts
By freestyle I am referring to the placement of the half rectangle triangles. Although I did have a general design in mind I arranged the triangles freestyle, creating a "pattern" in progress (as opposed to sketching and coloring a design first). I think I work better by doing rather than planning, which in my case might lead to overthinking. Straight from my head to my hands and the sewing machine. 

Modern Triangles - Patchwork Pillow by Red Pepper Quilts

The solid fabrics used are all Robert Kaufman Kona Cottons, and I have added just a few printed fabrics for interest. No project escapes the addition of black gingham at the moment! Or text fabric for that matter, but text fabrics have been a much longer obsession.

Modern Triangles (quilting detail) - Patchwork Pillow by Red Pepper Quilts

Quilted! When making a pillow cover I still make a "proper" quilt sandwich which includes the pillow top, batting and a layer of cotton backing fabric (the back of which will be visible from inside the pillow cover). I also pin baste the pillow top in the same way - taping the layers to the floor and then pinning the layers together. (I have previously written about my basting technique here).

Modern Triangles (front and back) - Patchwork Pillow by Red Pepper Quilts

For the back of the pillow I have used a single home decorator weight fabric by Heather Moore (Skinny la Minx). The pillow cover has a zippered side seam for easy insert removal and cleaning.
Modern Triangles - Patchwork Pillow by Red Pepper Quilts

This pillow is for sale and is listed in my Etsy Store.

You will find the listing details here: Modern Patchwork Pillow Cover


This design will need to be worked up into a quilt!

Thank you for stopping by,
Rita

RELEVANT LINKS:
Red Pepper Quilts Etsy Store
More Red Pepper Quilts Pillows
Sunday Stash #164 - Skinny la Minx

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8 comments:

  1. I love your originality! I've never seen anything like this, and it's really cool. Keep on inspiring!

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  2. this works so very well and yes you must repeat in a quilt,

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  3. It's a stunner!!! Black gingham has my vote everytime :)
    I really like the way that you did the quilting on this one, as well. Lovely!

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  4. This looks great. I like the optical illusions of different size triangles too.

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  5. I love the optical illusions as well. When quilting do you sew same direction each row or alternate up/dn? Which one avoids that ripple, puckered look? I do have a walking foot. Your finished quilts look so smooth!!!

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  6. i love this! and i, too, do much better designing with fabric than i do on graph paper. i always feel like most people do it the other way, sketching first. bur for me, the doing solidifies the design.

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  7. Super cool, Rita. Glad you pointed out the black gingham. I'm having a hankering for some now...

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  8. Love this! Makes my eyes go funny though...probably doesnt help that im reading this at half past midnight lol

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