Spoonflower Project: Pride & Prejudice Throw Pillows

My first home decor project is a Pride & Prejudice themed pillow!

When I first started sewing again, I had no interest in sewing clothing (having been there, done that) and didn't think I would ever do so for this blog.

At least I never said "never", because I ended up posting about a few clothing projects.

When I first started sewing again and saw some of the home decor things that people were making, I was also of the opinion, "nah, not for me; won't be doing any of that".

At least I never said "never", because I have now completed my first home decor item: a throw pillow.

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Or rather, two throw pillows! (Or cushions.)

My pillows experiencing some of the great Canadian outdoors this winter!

Before I go any further, let me say that I come by my disinterest in home decor sewing quite honestly: I really have no interest in home decor, period. Take me to a HomeSense or a Bed, Bath and Beyond and I am bored out of my skull. I have a strong dislike for things that sit around doing nothing but collecting dust.

But back to the subject at hand. In mid December, Spoonflower ran another one of their BOGO fat quarters promos and I decided to use the sale to try out their heavy cotton twill. A fat quarter of that fabric measures 18" x 29", enough to make a square pillow case measuring just over 14". With the buy one get one offer, each fat quarter ended up being $7.65 (plus shipping); a steal of a deal.

Pride & Prejudice Text (Bi-Directional White/Black) Spoonflower fabric....

I further rejigged my P&P fabric to make it bi-directional, exactly like the one that I used to make my kimono inspired jacket, but without the background gradient.

The heavy cotton twill has a nice, crisp feel to it — and as you might guess — holds a crease very well. So while my finger got sore hand-sewing at the end to close up the pillow, at least I was able to keep everything straight.

I worked out a method for how I was going to make these cushions and completed the white one very quickly. (And no, it's not complicated no matter how you go about it, since it's just a square enclosure.) But then I was stymied by the fact that the black fabric was printed off kilter!

Take a look here...

The red dashed line shows how "off" the printing was on this piece!

The nice easy process that I was going to document and photograph while making the second one suddenly went out the window. But I'll share my method anyway.

Before you start, however, check to see if your fabric squares up. If not, do what you have to do to make it square through the following steps.

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Since Spoonflower fabric is — obviously — printed fabric, you will always have a white border around the main patterned area. In this case, trim the excess fabric off the sides of the fat quarter, retaining 1/4" of the white border. Then trim the excess off the top edge, again leaving 1/4" of the white showing. (Which do I consider the top edge? The one that has "Mr. Darcy" running across it.)

Maximize your fabric's patterned area by using the white border in your seam allowance...

With right sides together, fold the fabric in half horizontally and pin.

I had to vary my seam allowance to square up my fabric!

Sew the two side edges together with a 1/4" seam allowance. NOTE: you can measure and cut everything first and then sew up the seams all at once if you prefer.

If you're working with the black fabric, be precise and ensure that you don't end up with the white border showing alongside your stitches.

Next, sew the top edge together with the same 1/4" seam allowance.

Draw a line to mark the final seam...

For the final seam along the bottom, measure 14.5" from the top edge and draw a line with a fading marker. Cut away the excess fabric.

Sew along this edge about 3" out from both corners, using a 1/4" seam allowance. (Reinforce the corner that had the stitching cut into when you trimmed off the bottom part of the fabric.) The middle, of course, is left open for turning and stuffing.

Trim away some of the fabric at the corners...

Reduce the bulk in the corners by trimming away some of the fabric and then press open the seam allowances of the two closed sides.

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Turn the whole thing right side out, poke out the corners and give it a good press, paying particular attention to the open part along the bottom seam.

Time to stuff!

I repurposed an old bed pillow for this project. It's cheaper than buying a pillow form and I can feel good about reusing stuff. The fill was enough to stuff both of these cushions with some left over. (I'm sure we all probably have extra pillows that can be sacrificed to such causes. My other half tends to want a new/different pillow quite regularly.) Ensure that you get right into the corners; I cut additional strips of fill just to plump up the sides.

All that's left is to stitch up the opening by hand and you've got a conversation piece for your couch!

The pattern is nicely balanced in the middle without having to be concerned with fussy cutting...

And if you were wondering where Lizzie went, she's on the sides...

Elizabeth Bennet appears along the sides...

By the way, look at what was playing on some channel while I was in the middle of this project...

Getting inspiration from all sources!

Are you wondering why I chose to make these if I'm not a home decor enthusiast? The cushions that we have on our couch are from 1990 and are almost pancake flat... I simply needed new ones.

And I'm pretty sure I couldn't have purchased nicer ones for less money. ;-)

Want to check out the fabric? Click here. (By the way, right after I completed this project, Spoonflower came out with a lightweight version of their cotton twill. It costs six dollars less per yard and is also very suitable for this project.)