Nursery Pillows

Today I'm working on the first of two pillows for my next grandbaby's nursery. I'm making envelope pillow covers so they can be removed easily and washed as needed. Won't this yellow and white chevron fabric make a cute pillow?

The finished size of the pillow form is 20" square. I cut the fabric 21" x 46". This way all I have to do is finish off the two ends and sew all the way around and it's done. It's a really fast and easy way to do an envelope back pillow cover.

I turned under both short ends 1/4" and then turned them under another 1/4" so there is no raw edge showing. I topstitched that close to the turned under edge.



I put the fabric wrong side up and found the center of the pillow by matching the two turned under ends. I finger pressed the center for a reference point.

I like to do French Seams for pillows that are going to be washed. Since this is for a baby's nursery I want them to hold up well to washing. By finishing the seams this way, I feel that they hold up better than just a regular seam.

I used the center fold as a reference and brought the finished end on the right side up about 1./4" to the left of the center line.

Next I folded the left side of the pillow toward the center. I overlapped it 1 1/2" over the other end. I pinned that in place at the top and bottom. In the photo the raw edges don't match so you can see the overlap. But as you can see by the next photo I pinned it in place with the edges matching. I also pinned in a couple other places to hold things together.

 

The chevron "stripes" don't line up here but they do line up when the pillow is finished.

I know it's weird to sew with Wrong Sides Together (WST). I am so used to Right Sides Together (RST) that I really have to think about it before I sew. It's just automatic to do RST. But when doing French Seams the first seam is WST. I stitched 1/4" on both sets of raw edges.

Using the opening for the pillow I turned it so that now it is Right Sides Together. I used a Point Turner to make sure that the corners were nice and defined. A friend's husband makes this one. It is a Point Turner on one end and a Finger Pressing Tool on the other end. It is a little long but it is perfect for this job.

I pressed the whole pillow cover really well after I turned it Right Sides Together. Even though I really only have 2 seams to sew I actually stitched all the way around the pillow cover with a 1/2" seam allowance. That will keep it's square shape.

After sewing all the way around the pillow the two actual seams are completely covered. Now there are no raw edges inside the pillow to fray after multiple washings. This technique is also good for sewing tote bags. It makes the seams really strong.

Now it's time to turn it right side out. I used the Point Turner again to make sure that all 4 corners are well defined. Here's the finished product on the glider/rocker in the nursery. 

I think it turned out very cute and so does my daughter.

Happy Sewing,

Carol

Baby Decor

My oldest daughter is an interior designer. She is expecting her first child, a little girl whose name will be Elsie Paige, on March 10th. Given her background she had a vision for the baby's nursery. She chose neutral colors, giraffes and a splash of pale pink as the inspiration.

She asked me if I would make the drapes and some pillow covers. She also wanted to replace the taupe ties on the bumper pads with pink ones. Of course I said yes even though it had been a very long time since I've made any kind of curtains, let alone drapes. Fortunately the drapes were a simple design, no pleats or anything crazy like that.

I made a few muslin sample pillow covers before doing it with the "real" fabric to make sure they were going to be just right. I chose to do an envelope back pillow.

Since they are going in a baby's room I figured that they will get washed often so I did French Seams on them. I think they will hold up better than just a regular 1/4" - 1/2" seam, especially since some of the fabrics are going to ravel.

Here are all five covers. I only had one pillow form so I put my personal favorite on the pillow form.

The drapes are 7'3" long (87 inches), finished. That is REALLY long and my working conditions aren't very conducive to working with fabric that long. I didn't want to chance making a mistake with that much yardage so I made one panel from muslin first. When I had it all figured out I can't tell you how many times I re-measured the good fabric to make sure I got it right. There are ties that attach the drapes to the rod. The leopard print you see in the pillow above is the fabric for the ties.

As I sewed the ties I backstitched over each one to hold them more securely since there would be so much weight on them. I made a 2 1/2" facing at the top for the ties. Going back to my garment sewing days, I remembered that when I used to sew a facing into a garment, I stay stitched it in place which reinforced the ties yet again. Then I topstitched the facing in place.

Here they are hanging in in the nursery. Isn't that leopard print a great little added detail? So much cuter than doing them in the pink like the rest of the drape.

Last but not least comes the bumper pad project. I thought all I would have to do is take the little ties out and slide the new ones in. It just wasn't going to work like that. Think of the bumper pads as a very bulky quilt. I had to take out the binding on the two long sides. I removed the old ties and marked where they belonged as I went along. Here is a section of bumper pad and the original ties.

There are two pieces to each tie and there are two ties in each spot. The point at the end could have been tricky. I got lucky though. It is a 22 1/2 degree angle and that is an angle that is built into my QuiltCut2. Cutting them was really easy! The hardest part was turning them right side out. The fabric was bulky and the weave made it hard to poke out the points. Here's my pile of ties sewn and pressed.

The whole time I was working on these my husband kept criticizing it. He couldn't understand the decision to swap them out. I knew what the final product was going to look like and I knew it was going to be worth it. Here's a glimpse of a small section all finished.

Now for the big reveal. The focal wall is giraffe spots that my daughter drew and painted.

See how that little detail of changing the ties from taupe to pink changed the whole look of the bumper pads? As soon as my husband saw them all tied onto the crib, he got it and complimented our daughter on the way it looked. He admitted that this tiny detail really made a difference.

Little Elsie's room is ready. We're just waiting for her to make her appearance.

Happy Sewing,

Carol