Mod Pillows

Here's one more little finish for 2016 -- my Mod Pillows. I made these from the strip sets left over from Mod Trips, my modern, red and white version of Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips Around the World. That was the quilt that started my Bonnie Hunter infatuation!

Anyway, the tops for these 20" square pillow covers have been quilted for a long time, and they just needed the back and binding. In my stash I had this fabric with old maps of the world...

...which is a perfect match by colour and by theme! When I first bought it online, it turned out to be much darker than I expected. So I "discharged" it by an overnight soak in a diluted bucket of bleach. The colour turned out much better, but despite several washes the fabric smelled of bleach for over a year! A cautionary tale. But, I'm glad to have it now!

So far, I'd sewn all my bindings by hand, simply because it is easier and hand sewing is something I already knew how to do. But, with my back the way it is now, I decided it was time to learn to sew binding by machine. Around the internet I've seen a couple of award-winning quilts that had bindings machine sewn to the front of the quilt. That's what I wanted to try!

Front

This is a double-fold binding, sewn to the front the same as you would for a hand sewn binding. I did cut the strips 1/4" wider, just to give myself a little extra room on the back.

I ironed the binding out, and then ironed it again folded to the back, pinned the corner and used Clover Wonder Clips to hold the binding in place. Then, with my zipper foot and beige thread in the top of the machine and red thread in the bobbin, I stitched in the ditch from the front of the pillow, being careful to catch the flap of the binding underneath at the same time.

Back

It is a little wobbly, as expected, but on the whole it was easier and turned out better than I hoped! I really prefer to have that loose flap on the back, and have a neat front. So I'll definitely use this technique again!

I'll be using the pillows right away, so I am glad to have them done at last. Plus, I am very happy to have the empty project box! It will be nice to get some of my new projects off my sewing table. :D

Mod Pillows

Back in July I showed you the pile of offcuts that I had from the Scrappy Trips Around the World blocks that I used to make my Mod Trips quilt. Now that the flimsy is finished, I decided to make two 20" square pillow covers from the remaining strips. I had 37 pieced strips left, each with one red square and five light squares. For the first pillow I was able to make a scaled down version of the loops in my quilt:

But, there weren't enough red squares to make another loop, so for the second pillow I opted for an asymmetrical cross:

I think they both have that "mod" feel.

And now, with the pillow tops done too, I am really feeling like I have completed a milestone with this project. There are just a few squares left over for the scrap bin. Next month I hope to start the quilting, but for now I want to see how far I can get with Jacks and Cats before Halloween is upon us. Lots to do!