Virginia Reel Pillow

A fun project to show off your patchwork skills!

Posted by amandarmurphy

About

I named the quilt that inspired this pillow "Virginia Reel" because the pinwheels that are suspended from pairs of columns remind me of dancers spin- ning through a colonial reel. For the pillow, those columns wrap completely around the pillow form onto the back, for a unique, professional finish.
Materials
• 1/4 yard dark pink and gold diamond fabric (AAM-11491-239)
• 1/4 yard white dotted fabric (AAM-11492)
• 1/4 yard yellow floral (AAM-11485-238)
• 1 (2-1/2") aqua floral strip (AAM-11488-70)
• 1 (2-1/2") dark pink tulip strip (AAM-11486-239)
• 2 (4") green dotted squares (AAM-11492-218)
• 1 (8-3/4" x 16-1/2") pink paisley rectangle for back center panel (AAM-11484-239)
• 16" pillow form
• 3 (1") buttons
• 2 (2" x 16-1/2") strips of fusible interfacing

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You Will Need (1 thing)

  • Fabric

Steps (20 steps, 300 minutes)

  1. 1

    Cutting
    • From diamond fabric cut 1 (2-1/2") strip and 1 (4-1/2") strip. From (4-1/2") strip, cut 6 (4-1/2") squares.
    • From white dotted fabric cut 1 (2-1/2") strip, 2 (4") squares, 2 (1-1/2" x 6-1/2" rectangles, and 2 (1-1/2" x 8") rectangles.
    • From yellow floral cut 1 (2-1/2") strip. From strip, cut 4 (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") rectangles and one (2-1/2" x 16-1/2") rectangle. Cut a (4-3/4" x 16-1/2") rect- angle from the remainder of your fabric.
    • From aqua floral strip, cut 8 (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") rect- angles.
    • From (2-1/2") dark pink strip, cut 4 (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") rectangles and 4 (2-1/2") squares.

  2. 2

    Pillow Front
    1. Draw a diagonal line on the back of each the both green (4") squares. Draw an- other line 1/4" on each side of the diago- nal, as shown in Diagram 1.

  3. 3

    Stitch over the outer lines and then cut in half on the original diagonal. Press seams open and trim to 3-1/2" squares. Sew 4 squares into a pinwheel formation as shown in Diagram 2.

  4. 4

    Sew a (1-1/2" x 6-1/2") background rect- angle onto the sides of the pinwheel, pressing seams toward pinwheel. Sew a (1-1/2" x 8-1/2") rectangle onto the top and bottom of the pinwheel, as shown in Diagram 3, pressing seams away from pinwheel.

  5. 5

    Draw a diagonal line on the back of each (2-1/2") dark pink square. Sew a square onto each corner of your pinwheel unit, fol- lowing the diagonal line, as shown in Diagram 4. Trim seam allowance, and press out.

  6. 6

    To make flying geese draw a diagonal line on the back of each (2-1/2”) white dotted square. Position a square on top of a (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") rectangle RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER as shown in Diagram 5 and sew on top of the diagonal line. Trim seam allowance and press OPEN. Position the other square on top of this unit RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER as shown below and sew on top of the diagonal line. Trim seam allowance and press open. Make 4 flying geese.

  7. 7

    Join a (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") diamond rectangle to the top of each of your flying geese, as shown in Diagram 6.

  8. 8

    Join a (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") yellow floral rectangle to each side of 2 of the flying geese, as shown in Diagram 7.

  9. 9

    Join a (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") aqua floral rectangle to each side of 2 of the flying geese, as shown in Diagram 8.

  10. 10

    Join the long side of the (2-1/2") white strip to the (2-1/2") diamond strip RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Cut in half. Press seam toward the white fabric for one half of the strip, and cut 4 (4-1/2") units from that strip. Press seam toward the diamond fabric for the other half of the strip, and cut 4 (4-1/2") units from each strip. Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of these 4 units.

  11. 11

    Join the long side of the (2-1/2") white strip to the (2-1/2") diamond strip RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER. Cut in half. Press seam toward the white fabric for one half of the strip, and cut 4 (4-1/2") units from that strip. Press seam toward the diamond fabric for the other half of the strip, and cut 4 (4-1/2") units from each strip. Draw a diagonal line on the back of each of these 4 units.

  12. 12

    Join blocks into rows, as shown in Diagram 10. Join rows. Set pillow top aside.

  13. 13

    Pillow Back
    1. Making sure to orient diamond print verti- cally, join 3 (4-1/2") diamond squares with 2 (2-1/2" x 4-1/2") aqua rectangles, as shown in Diagram 11. Repeat to make 2 units.

  14. 14

    2. To make the "button panel", join 1 of these diamond units to the (2-1/2" x 16-1/2") yellow rectangle, as shown in Diagram 12. Join the other long edge of the yellow rectangle to the (8-3/4" x 16-1/2") pink paisley rectangle.

  15. 15

    Turn the remaining long edge of the pink rectangle under 1/2” and press. Turn under the same side 2” and press. Slip in an inter- facing strip into this fold and press to fuse. Turn this unit WRONG SIDE UP and topstitch 1/8” from the edge of the first fold to secure.

  16. 16

    To make the "buttonhole panel", join the remaining diamond units to the (4-3/4" x 16- 1/2") yellow rectangle, as shown below.

  17. 17

    Turn the remaining long edge of the button- hole panel 1/2” and press. Turn under the same side 2” and press. (Your first folded edge will meet the seam that joins the but- tonhole panel to the diamond uit.) Slip an interfacing strip into your buttonhole panel. Press to fuse interfacing. Turn this unit RIGHT SIDE UP and topstitch 1/8” from the seam, encasing the back side of the button- hole panel in the process.

  18. 18

    Make a light pencil mark in the center of the bottonhol panel and make another mark 3-1/2” on either side. Sew horizontal button- holes in those locations. Open buttonholes. Set aside.

  19. 19

    Baste top and bottom units together, so that the edge of the top unit just overlaps the top- stitching on the bottom unit, and the entire unit is 16-1/2" in square. Open up botton- holes a little and mark button placement on bottom panel.

  20. 20

    Pillow Assembly
    1. Pin front of pillow to back of pillow RIGHT SIDES TOGETHER, lining up seams, and stitch 1/4” from edge. Clip corners. Remove basting, turn right side out, and apply buttons.
    2. Slip in your pillow. If it is too tight (the stuff- ing for one of my 16" pillow forms is a bit on the generous side) remove some of the stuffing. Enjoy your pillow!