Pier 1 ain't got nothin'

Pier 1 ain't got nothing on me! If you guys 'like' my facebook page, then you'll know that I received a Pier 1 catalog a few weeks ago and in it was quite a surprise. Look and see for yourself :)

 Do you see what I'm talking about? Oh wait...no you don't because I haven't shown you the funny part yet. Well then here it is!

Doesn't that fabric look awfully familiar? Check the 2nd picture at the top. Yep, its the same fabric! I bought this fabric about a year ago from Hancock Fabrics on clearance! I bought about 6 yards of it. I don't know why, but I did. I know why I bought the fabric, just not so much of it. Ah well. Ancient history now. Anyways, I too am making this oh so pretty fabric into a pillow, but I also have a chocolate suede to pair with it. Oh and red lipped cord for accent. Confused? Don't be. I'm making a simple color block pillow. So with out further ado lets get this motor started!

First you need to figure out what size pillow you want. I'm doing two 20" pillows because that's what the pillows I'm stealing the stuffing out of are, and I'm lazy. 20 is an easy number to accommodate. Secondly we need to figure out how big each 1/4 needs to be, but this is simple. Since I'm breaking my pillow up into four quadrants, and each quadrant needs to have a 1/2" seam allowance simply add 1" to every dimension for the front of the pillow. So instead of four 10" squares, I'm going to have four 11" squares. The back should be cut out so that it's 21" square.

The rest of the basic construction is easy. Sew up two squares on one side. Then sew up the other two squares to each other. Then sew both those pieces together. I wanted my color blocks to be diagonal from each other so I just had to make sure that my squares were arranged correctly when I stitched them up. I found it easier to remember if I kept laying out the pattern and double checking to make sure I had everything correct as I went.

I added the cherry red lipped cord for some added interest. I pinned the cord even with the raw edge of the front of the pillow. For the corners I snipped to the cord and just bent the cord around. I like the corners accented when I add a trim.

I'm going to try and explain how I hid the cut ends of the lipped cord, and hopefully I get it right. :)

 Cut your ends so that they overlap each other. You don't need much, but I would  say an inch is probably the best so that you have room to work.

 Do you see that clear thread? Its mono filament and you need to snip that, because you need to separate the lip from the cord.

 Gently unwind the cord from the lip. Try to arrange it so that all of your pieces are facing away from you. I find that this makes it easier to work with. Try not to untwist the cords too much.

 I work from right to left, but you could also do this from the left. You will want to anchor the right most cord down so that it overlays the cord next to it.

 Then you want to anchor down the 2nd cord from the left. I do all of the anchoring with  my fingers and then pin them in place after they are all in place.

 Then gently wrap the left most cord around the right cord and anchor them down. This may take some finagling but it can be done. Just watch out for the unraveling. You can see in my picture that one of my cords was desperately trying to unravel.

 Pin everything down and secure with as many pins going as many directions as you need.

 Then stitch around the lipped cord with your zipper foot. I, personally, start about 3 or 4 inches from the combined edges and then start stitching. I don't want the pins working loose as I rotate the pillow around which is why I do them first.

Here is what your  lipped cord should look like after you've stitched the ends down.You almost  can't tell that I've done anything  to them. :)

Now just finish the pillow as your normally would, but make sure your stitching line follows the stitches from sewing down the lipped cord. You don't want to encase the cord in your seam! Oh and be sure to clip those corners! You don't want bulky corners!

 Stuff and start enjoying! I am loving the size and the texture of my pillow. I am also loving that it didn't cost me $24. :)

Have a great day guys!