SewalongwithKitty Toss pillows

 Sew some Knife Edge pillows.  This means there are just two pieces of fabric sewn together without any trim or welting in between.  This is a knife edge look.  There are templates that can be purchased that give you an outline of shaped pillows.  They can be square, rectangle or circular, but if there is no welting in the seam, or trim and the two sides front and back are just sewn together-zipper or not.  That is knife edge.  Just two sides sewn together.

These are knife edge, but the fur or long minky shows around the edges from the back piece.

Typical shapes are square, lumbar rectangular, and round bolster lumbar.  We carry inserts in many different size squares, and lumbars in round and rectangular 6x12 in both hypoallergenic (polyfil) or Down (feather) filled.  Down costs more than polyfil.

www.gstreetfabrics.com

 I am just going to show you sewing knife edge pillows together.  I usually put an invisible zipper in at the bottom of the pillows cover.

There are a couple of ways to sew toss pillows.   Remember Toss pillows are pillows you can toss on the sofa or chair...

Knife Edge

Shaped

With self-welting

With contrasting welting.

Perfect square or rounded shape

Today I am making:

1 Lumbar rectangle knife edge

1 Round lumbar tube

1 Large Fur backed.   All are knife edged with no piping.  My next posting will be how to make self-welting with the piping cord we sell at the store.  

gstreetfabrics.com

You can have hypoallergenic poly inserts or down filled pre-made inserts.   I suggest buying the inserts like we carry because it is easier to make your toss pillow look professionally made.  I use the invisible zippers in the toss pillows, because it is easier to make your pillows professional looking than trying to make your zipper placket, when you use a regular zipper.

If you are making an 18x18 pillow cover-use a 20x20 insert so you do not end up with drooping dog ears on the corners.  Push you insert in and smooth out to the corners from the center of the insert and it will fill the corners.

I have the inserts... 

I have a Fur piece for the back of a big pillow

I have a prowling tiger for the front....

For the smaller pillow I have the lakeview in velvet front

I have the black soft Minkie for the back

1.  I will sew the invisible zippers into the seam that will be the bottom of the pillows.

Pic

The fur backed pillow is a little trickier because of the long fur.  So first I will sew a strip of plain fabric onto the fur side so that the fur won't get caught in the invisible zipper.   Pictures to follow.

Pic 

2.  I will sew the sides up and done.

Pic

3. Insert the pillow inserts and smooth from the center to the corners.
Pic

When you are making a box cushion for your sofa or window seat that is not a pillow.  That is a cushion.  When you need a new insert, you can come into Gstreetfabrics and have us make you one in our workroom.  Your choices will be soft, medium or firm.  Most people would pick medium-enough firmness not to sink and yet not hard as a board.  All the cushion inserts professionally made are usually foam wrapped in batting.

Cushion is the usual box square that you sit on.... Ususally box means there is a side strip all the way around the cushion, making it a 3-D 
box .

For this toss pillow:

Fabric for front...( the measure of one side of the pillow will give you 2 fronts, i.e 1/2 yard is 18 inches... so 5/8 of a yard will give you enough measure to do the size of your pillow plus your 5/8 seam allowance.  I do 1/4 seam allowance then I don't have to trim.

20 x20 if you have 5/8 yard of fabric.  That can give you front and back of one pillow.  I do a contrasting back so I have 5/8 of the front fabric and 5/8 of the back fabric.

and the measure again of the other fabric will give you 2 backs

In my case.  5/8 of the front fabric and 5/8 of the back fabric.  An invisible zipper that is at least the length of the bottom edge minus 2and 1/2 inches.  I leave an inch on each end of the fabric plus the seam allowance.  After the pillow case is sewn you will have 1 inch to the end seams of the pillow.

1.  Pillow fabric for the front, pillow fabric for the back.

2.  Pillow inserts one size larger than the size pillow for one or 2 if you are doing 2 pillows, i.e. 20 inch insert for an 18 x 18 inch pillow

3.  An invisible zipper foot.  There are generic invisible zipper foots.  I got mine on ebay.  It is clear plastic and it has little slots on each side so that when you sew the zipper the teet go into the slot and are turned, close to the edge for sewing.

This is an old sewing machine, but all invisibile zipper feet work, essentially the same.. There are two grooves under the zipper foot.  Sew, when you are doing the zipper you hold the teeth open so the needle is sewing very close the folded underside of the zipper next to the teeth.  The zipper foot causes the teeth of the zipper to go into the groove of the foot so it sews nice and straight against your zipper.

4.  When you have sewn one side you can test the zipping to be sure you are close to the zipper but not sewn onto the teeth so your zipper slides smoothly up the teeth.  

5.  The example of this tiger pillow is a little more difficult because there is long fur.  I clipped the fur close to  the zipper path of sewing so that the fur would not get caught into the teeth.  The zipper is laying upside down on top of the pillow top and the first side to sew will be the left side by opening the zipper and sliding the the left under side of the zipper teeth under your zipper foot.  After you sew this row of teeth, just zip the zipper to see that it will only show the little pull drop when it is sew up.   The lay the right side of the fabric for the pillow top face down..unzip the zipper again and pin it to the back side of the pillow top.  This will be the bottom of the zipper open laying agains the right side of the pillow cover back.  Now, run the other side of the zipper under the other groove in your zipper foot so the zipper is face down but teeth up and open.  

One side is sewn

Testing the zipper path

The bottom edge zipps good after ding the second side of the zipper

6.  At this point, I am just testing the look of the pillow... looks good., but I am going to add some black twill tape to the top of the pillow before I sew all the way around so that I don't loose the top of the tiger at the seam.  The I will sew all the way around with the zipper open so that I can trim the seam and then flip inside out after trimming all that fur around the inside seam... After because it is fur, it can have the insert put in and pushed out to the corners, and pin pulled the faux fur out of the seams so it is thick and fluffy around the 3 outer edges.  Every side sewn and trimmed then flipped.  

7.  Your insert that is one size larger than the cover is then folded in half and inserted into the cover-smoothing in out to the corners from the center.

8.  In this case you can go back and take one of your long pins, or needles and pluck the long fur out of the seams to make it stand out on the 3 non-zipper sides.