Summer Squares Patchwork Pillow

 -This post may contain affiliate links. Products used in this project provided by Missouri Star Quilt Company-

When I am making a sewing or quilting project I typically lean towards prints, but lately I have been seeing lots of beautiful quilt blocks made with colorful solids and I have been wanting to make something with bright colored solids. So when Missouri Star Quilt Company reached out and asked me if I wanted to make something using a selection of solids I jumped on the opportunity.

I chose 10 bright colors to use in my project because the bright colors just seemed the most summery to me. 

The challenge was to make something that could be used to refresh your outdoor/patio area for summer so decided right away that I wanted to make a pillow. I came up with several different designs that I thought about using but after playing around with a few different designs I ended up deciding to go with simple squares in a random pattern. I really wanted the colors to be randomly placed and the squares seemed to be the best way to do this. 

I cut the squares out 2 1/2 inches, so they were 2 inches square finished size. The nice thing about this it that it could be easily be adjusted to fit the pillow size you are making. Most pillow forms are even number sizes so it is easy to figure out the number of squares you need. I used an 18" pillow form so I did a 9x9 square layout. 

I laid out my my squares to make sure that the squares were evenly spread out throughout the pillow, then sewed them together to make my pillow top. 

I normally quilt the pillow top when I make pillows, but for this one I just left the pieced top as is and added a split back so the pillow cover could be changed out. It worked up super quick and easy once I decided on a pattern. About as basic a patchwork pattern as you can get, but the bright solids make it wo fun.

First time customers get a discount on Missouri Star Quilt Co. through 6/30/23 with the code FIVELITTLEJUNE23

How to Make the Summer Squares Patchwork Pillow

You will need:

• 1/4 yard cotton fabric in 9 bright, solid colors (sample made with Designer Essential Solids- Dragon's Breath in Shire, Amethyst, Carnelian, Celestial, Legendary, Matcha, Moonflower, Snapdragon, and Stargazer)
• 1/2 yard of cotton fabric in the color you will use for the back (Designer Essential Solids- Dragon's Breath in Marigold)
• 18" square pillow insert
• rotary cutter, ruler, and mat
• sewing machine
• coordinating thread

Instructions:

cut out squares from all 10 colors (including the fabric you will use for the back- you will need 81 squares total for an 18" square pillow 

9- 2.5" squares from Color A

8- 2.5" squares from Color B

8- 2.5" squares from Color C

8- 2.5" squares from Color D

8- 2.5" squares from Color E

8- 2.5" squares from Color F

8- 2.5" squares from Color G

8- 2.5" squares from Color H

8- 2.5" squares from Color I

8- 2.5" squares from Color J

Cut out 2 pieces for the back pillow-

2- 18.5"x 13"

Layout the squares in 9 rows of 9 squares spreading the colors out throughout 

Sew the squares together with 1/4" seam allowance, first sew the 9 squares across into rows, them sew the rows together

Take the 2 back pieces and hem one long edge of each piece with a narrow hem

Place the two back pieces on the pillow front, right sides together, overlapping the hemmed edges in the middle of the pillow

Sew all the way around the outside edge of the pillow cover

Turn the pillow cover inside out and press

Insert the pillow form inside of the cover through the opening in the back.