Pieced Pumpkin Pillow

I love Fall, it is by far my favorite season. I love the weather, the colors, the smells, the fact that it is the start of the holiday season, everything about it. It is just my favorite time of year. One thing that totally says fall is pumpkin, I mean, they are ready to harvest in the fall, be carve them for Halloween, use them to decorate all season, eat pumpkin everything, use pumpkin spice scented candles, they are orange a color that totally says fall, everything about pumpkins seems to say fall. So as I was thinking of fall projects I could make I decided that I wanted to make something with a pumpkin. I had an idea to piece together strips of orange fabrics so make a pumpkin shape. I thought the strips would kind of represent the shape and bumpiness of a pumpkin. My son later informed me that I made something that almost looked like a pumpkin, that it wasn't bumpy enough to really look like a pumpkin. I decided to use that idea to make a pieced pumpkin pillow. I thought it would be a perfect thing to throw on the couch or a chair to bring a little bit of fall to the room.

The pieced pumpkin was made using strips of 5 orange fabrics, a little square of green for a stem and some cream colored fabric for the background. I then used the same orange fabrics to piece a border of little squares around the outside of the pillow, I finished it with a little bit of quilting and an envelope style closure on the back. The finished pillow measured 16 inches square. I made this pillow as a Fairfield World Master Maker, product and compensation for this post were provided by Fairfield World.

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How to Make a Pieced Pumpkin Pillow

Finished size: 16" square

You will need:

• 1/8 yard each of 5 orange fabrics
• small scrap of green fabric
• 3/4 yard off-white fabric
• 18" square Fusi-Boo Fusible Batting by Fairfield World
• 16" Soft Touch Pillow Insert by Fairfield World
• coordinating thread
• scissors, rotary cutter, mat, ruler
• sewing machine

Instructions:

Cutting

from green: 

1- 1 1/2" square

from orange:

5- 2 1/2" x 7 1/2" strips (one from each fabric)

28- 2 1/2" squares (total number of squares from all fabrics combined)

from cream:

4- 2 1/2" squares

2- 1 1/2" x 4 3/4" strips

2- 1 1/2" x 8 1/2" strips

2- 2 1/2" x 12 1/2" strips

2- 16 1/2" x 11 " strips

1- 18" square

Assembly

Begin by laying out your orange strips in the order you want to sew them together. You will be sewing the long sides together to create a block. Once you have the strips in the order you want take your 4- 2 1/2" cream squares and draw a line diagonally across the center. Now place the squares on the corners of each of the outside strips so that the line "cuts off" the outside corner, sew along the line, fold it open, press and trim the excess from the corner. Sew the strips together in the order you laid out. You should now have a rectangle that is mostly orange with small cream corners. It should look like the pumpkin portion of the pillow. Press all of your seams.

Next you will make the stem section by sewing together the 2- 1 1/2" x 4 3/4" cream strips and the small green square. Sew one strip on either side of green square. Press and sew to the top of the pumpkin section.

To add the cream section surrounding the pumpkin first sew the 2- 1 1/2"x 8 1/2" strips on each side of the pumpkin section. Sew the 2- 2 1/2"x 12 1/2" strips on the top and the bottom of the pumpkin. Press all of your seams. 

For the orange pieced border I find it helpful to lay out all my squares first so that I can make sure that there aren't two of the same fabric too close. You will need 8 squares across the top and bottom and 6 squares across each side (the 2 extra squares on the top and bottom are the corners). Sew those rows of 6 or 8 squares together, then sew the 6 square strips to the sides and the 8 square strips to the top and bottom. 

Make sure everything is nicely pressed and then layer your 18" square of fabric, your fusible batting, and your pillow top. Press to fuse together. Quilt as desired. I made some curvy lines on the pumpkin, again trying to represent the texture of the pumpkin, and zigzagged diagonally through the border squares. When the quilting is finished trim the excess batting and backing around the edge. 

To make the back closure take your 2- 16 1/2" x 11" strips and make a narrow hem along one long edge of each. Then place right sides together on the pillow top so that the raw edges all match up and the hemmed edges overlap in the center. Sew all the way around the outside of the pillow. Finish the seam with an overcast or zigzag stitch. Turn the pillow cover right side out and put the pillow insert inside.

Enjoy your new fall pillow.