pink and turquoise – a pillow cover for beginners

My husband’s niece Andrea and her partner Dietmar visited us the last week. To my surprise Andrea brought me some fabric as a present. But she also got some fabrics that she liked and wanted to make a pillow cover, a pattern for a patchwork beginner. We looked through a few books and magazines and Andrea found the design she liked. It is a minimalist bento box block with a border, finished pillow size 18″ x 18″ with an envelope back.

Andrea doesn’t have much sewing experience, but together (and with help of the seam ripper) we managed a perfect 1/4″ seam allowance and straight line quilting. First of all we cut the fabrics :

The next step was to piece 4 units with the pink and turquoise squares together. Press seams open and add the rectangles. Press seams open and check the size of each pink and turquoise unit : 6,5″ x 6,5″. Piece units together to make the central minimalist bento box block. Add the borders on the top and bottom, left and right. Make a quilt sandwich with wadding and light muslin backing fabric.

Andrea quilted the pillow cover with straight lines (using the walking foot) following all the seams. For the envelope back we need to 2 pieces 18,5″ x 14″. Sew a hem on the longer side of the rectangles. To finish the pillow cover lay the quilted top and the back pieces (with hems overlapping) right sides together and sew 1/4″ around the edge. Turn right side out, insert an inlet and place your finished pillow on the sofa!

Please visit Teje’s blog to see a nice pink bunny!! Happy quilting, Barbora