This was my old bedspread. It came with the trailer when we bought it, and I hated it from day one. It was ugly and scratchy and I was really happy to get rid of it when I finished my quilt a few months ago.
So now I have that fabulous new quilt, but I still have the ugly scratchy pillows going on. Today, I started making the new covers for the pillows. It started out with my old friend, the seam ripper. Together we ripped the old pillows apart. Then I used the old covers as a pattern to cut out the new ones.
Now I am working on making the ruffles. Ruffles are pretty easy, just monotonous work. To make ruffles, cut your fabric twice as wide as you want the ruffle to be, and two and a half as long as the circumference of the pillow. Fold the fabric piece in half with wrong sides together, and stitch 1/4 inch from the edge. Then, starting at one end, and using the widest zigzag stitch your machine will make, sew a piece of cord or yarn to the fabric, using the first stitching as a guide for placement of the yarn. Make sure you do not stitch through the yarn, just over it with the zigzag stitch:
After you have stitched the yarn to the fabric, hold one end of the yarn, pulling it to “bunch up” the fabric on the yarn. Spread out the gathering until it is evenly spaced, and stitch over the yarn using a straight stitch.
Continue pulling up the yarn, bunching up the fabric, and stitching the fabric in place until you get to the end of the piece. I use a pin to pull up the yarn between the zigzag stitches as I progress down the length of the fabric:
The sewing area was a mess! That fluff on the floor is the inside of the pillow I took apart today. Tomorrow I’ll put all the pieces together again, and then the pillows will match the quilt. Next up: new curtains.
hurry and finish – I’ve never done ruffles like that so I can’t wait to see how it’s finished!
Very well done. I love your quilt. I’m so impressed with your accomplishments and just want to tell you, you get more done in the run of a day than I in a castle of overwhelming. I’ll be back to see the ruffled cases, no pressure if it is the end of the week I don’t rush a good thing…there is the procrastination coming out in me again. Have to say I have never used yarn for gathers good idea.
When you get the curtains done you’ll really be stylin’. I’m thinking curtains will be inevitable once the day/night blinds go bad.
I do love your quilt, and you do need some fancy new pillows to go with it. The close-ups take me right back to homemaking class in junior high school!