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Front porch flower pillow tutorial

This Front Porch Flower Pillow has been on my “to do” list for a while and it’s finally finished.  I thought I would share a quick tutorial with you in case you’d like to make one, too.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

This pillow measures 16″ square, and is named after the beautiful fabric used to make it – Front Porch Fabric by Sherri and Chelsi for Moda Fabrics.  It’s perfect for this project and it has some of my favorite colors!  You could even use a charm pack of 5″ squares to make the flower petals and to piece together the pillow front (differently than mine, but an efficient use of fabric).

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

The back has a hidden zipper that I just love.  I used an excellent tutorial from Adrienne at On the Windy Side to make the pillow back with a covered zipper.  It was really easy and can be used for any size pillow.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

This tutorial uses an easy {invisible} turned edge machine applique technique that I’ve shared before for my Spring Petals Quilt Along and my May Day Basket.  If you don’t like applique, you might like this technique because it’s very forgiving and more like piecing than applique.

Note:  I’ve just recently discovered Quilter’s Select Cutaway by Alex Anderson. It’s a strong but very thin interfacing that is perfect for this turned edge applique technique.  It’s also a great product for stabilizing t-shirt quilts or any bias grain.  If you don’t have it, you can also use any lightweight, fusible interfacing.

Front Porch Flower Pillow Tutorial, size:  16″ square

Supplies:

  • 5 fat quarters of light fabric, 4 for the pillow front base and 1 for the pillow back
  • 1/4 yard of dark coral fabric for the binding (optional) and center petal
  • 1/4 yard of 4 different corals (or use the same fabric) for the petals, or a charm pack of 5″ squares
  • 1/4 yard of green fabric for the petals
  • 1/3 yard of lightweight fusible interfacing; I used Quilter’s Select Cutaway
  • 16 ” square of fusible fleece
  • 1/2 yard of fusible interfacing such as Pellon SF101 for the pillow back (optional)
  • 16″ or 18″ zipper
  • 16″ pillow insert
  • 4″ circle template (approximately – use a bowl that is close in size).  I used Karen Kay Buckley’s Bigger Perfect Circles as my template.

Pillow base front instructions:  You can make the front of the pillow as easy or complicated as you like.  I chose to make a pinwheel from four half-square triangles.  Other ideas would be a 4-patch or 9-patch.  It needs to be 16 1/2″ unfinished when done.

For the pinwheel, cut one 9″ square from each of the 4 light fat quarters.  Draw a diagonal line on  two of them.  Place two squares right sides together and stitch 1/4″ from each side of the drawn line.  Cut apart on the line and press to one side.  Trim to 8 1/2″ square.  Sew the four HST’s together to create a pinwheel.  It should measure 16 1/2″ square.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

Fuse the fusible fleece to the wrong side of the pinwheel square and quilt it.  I did some simple loops with free motion quilting, but you could do straight lines instead.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Flower petal construction:

Cut the coral fabric into (11) 5″ squares, the dark coral into (1) 5″ square and the green fabric into (3) 5″ squares.

Cut the lightweight fusible interfacing into (15) 5″ squares.

Trace a 4″ circle onto the non-fusible side (smooth side) of the interfacing.  If you are using Quilter’s Select Cutaway, it’s easier to trace the circle onto the right side of a 5″ fabric square using a Frixion Pen.  You can see the line through the interfacing.

Place a 5″ fabric square right side together with the fusible side of an interfacing square.  Stitch on the drawn circle using a short stitch length such as 1.5.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Trim about 1/8″ around the outside of the circle using pinking shears if you have them, otherwise regular scissors will do.  Pinking shears reduces the bulk and allows for a smoother turned edge.

Make a slit in the center of the interfacing side of the circle and turn it right side out.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

I used a purple thang to push out the edges, and then smoothed the outside edges using a wooden iron or your fingers, NOT a hot iron.  The fusible side of the interfacing will create a mess of things if you iron it now.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Set aside the dark coral circle.  Choose 5 circles to make the first ring of petals and set aside.  From the remaining coral and green circles, cut them in half.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Arrange the petals on top of the quilted pillow, starting with the dark coral center and five whole circles.  I decided to make the second ring of petals all a slightly darker shade of coral.  Slip these half circles in between the whole circles, evenly spacing them.  Do the same thing with the next coral ring and then the green petals last.  You will have a few left over petal half-circles.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Once you’re happy with how everything looks, fuse the petals into place using your iron.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Stitch the petals down by hand or machine.  I wanted mine to look invisible, but I wanted to use my machine.  So, I stitched around each petal with monofilament (clear) thread or you can use matching thread.  I like to use an open-toe applique foot so I can see exactly where my stitches are placed.  I used a very narrow zig zag stitch, (1.1 width on my Bernina 770).  I adjusted the stitch length to 2.0.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

The wrong side of my pillow top looks like this:

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Now you need to assemble the  pillow top and pillow back.  And this is where my tutorial ends.  I know!  How can I leave you guys hanging?  But I’m going to refer you to an excellent tutorial that I mentioned in the beginning of this post.  Visit Adrienne at On The Windy Side if you want to add a zipper.  For an envelope back, visit Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts  and remember, you’re making a pillow that is 16″ square.

I love adding binding to my pillows because it gives it a tailored look as if it had piping.  My binding strips are cut 2 1/4″ wide and I finished it all by machine.  I stitched the binding to the back of the pillow and brought it around to the front and then stitched it near the edge with matching thread.  You can see my tutorial for all machine binding here.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

Front Porch Flower Pillow. A free tutorial by Julie Cefalu @ The Crafty Quilter for a 16" covered pillow using easy applique techniques.

 

Thanks for visiting today.  I hope you have fun with this tutorial and make your own Front Porch Flower Pillow.  Things are blooming everywhere!  Enjoy!

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13 Comments

  1. Love the pillow and the detailed instructions! It is truly a work of love and beauty. Thank you Julie for sharing this with me.

  2. I love the pattern of the flower cushion … and also love the (very) useful little tips and explanations of why it helps to use pinking shears to cut the circles … thank-you … as ever your creativity and energy continue to amaze me. 🙂
    Patricia

  3. Thanks, it’s really lovely, I look forward to making this on a pillow or perhaps on a tote bag!

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