A pretty/funky stripe pillow tutorial a la Anthropologie

A pretty/funky stripe pillow tutorial a la Anthropologie

• 6.06.2011

Remember my Anthro-inspired pillow tutorial from last week?

Well, here's a tutorial for how I did the back!

Made of old project scraps and pieces, and a cinch to put together, it was sort of inspired by these Anthro pillows:

Ready for a quick and simple tutorial?

• It starts the same way as the rose appliqué pillow.  Pull out all your fave fabric scraps, and dig around in the piles for the pieces you'd like to use for the stripes!

• Keep in mind your finished size goal.  For my 18" pillow, I needed my pieces to add up to a 19" square to allow for 1/2" seam allowances on each side.
• Cut pieces into the shapes you want. I opted for three long skinny rectangles (the pink one is cut on the bias!), plus the two big rectangles on the end.  Then I cut (freeform) a little zig zag in the green one, and left the tie dye one as it was but added the pointy blue linen.
• Arrange them the way you want them, overlapping (make sure you cut your pieces big enough to allow for a seam allowance).

• Sew right sides together for your simple stripes--sew the yellow to the blue, the blue to the pink, and the pink to the tie dye.
• Pin down your zigzag piece, onto the stripe it lands on.

• You'll notice the patterned quilting fabric in the back of the picture--use a piece of scrap fabric 1" bigger around than your pillow as a backing.  I had a 19" square of this quilting fabric that I didn't want to use for anything else.
• Pin the stripe/zigzag pieces to the scrap fabric backing, lining up the top and bottom edges of the stripes.
• Carefully sew along the edges of the zigzags, using less than 1/4" seam allowance.  Less than the width of the presserfoot is good.  If you don't sew close enough to the edge, the edges will turn up and get moved around when people use the pillow!

• Once all your pieces are secured down, you should have one complete striped square reinforced throughout with the muslin or cheap fabric backing.  Pin along the edges to keep it firmly attached.
• I sewed braid trim along some of the seams of the stripes, to add texture and more color.  See the blue ricrac in the center?
• Arrange with your pillow front!

• Now, follow the zipper steps from this tutorial for the pillow's front!
• Enjoy!

Here's the front one more time.

Now you get to enjoy two Anthro-ey scrap fabric pretty pillows in one!