I made this throw pillow for my mom's birthday recently, using the instructions from Deborah Moebes's Stitch by Stitch: Learning to Sew, One Project at a Time. I've done the easy projects in the beginning, but this pillow is past the middle of the book. The main features: piping along the edges and a universal zipper, both of which are skill-stretchers for me. (I made a skirt two summers ago with a zipper, but it didn't turn out as well as this one did.) I got the beautiful fabric on sale last December at the local quilting/fabric store here.
Confession: I had meant to make this for my mom last Christmas, but after I missed the deadline I kept pushing it back for almost a year. The fabric is even called Lumière de Noël by French General -- Light of Christmas. I did begin the project last December; I cut the fabric pieces and started putting the piping together, but I think it was because the piping was so fussy that I felt like abandoning the project.
So fast forward to this past weekend, which was my FINAL deadline for this pillow. The fabric pieces and half-pinned piping had been sitting neglected in one of my fabric bins for many, many months. I finally took the plunge and tried to sew the bias tape around the 1/4"-cord to make the piping. Second confession: while working on finally finishing the pillow, I wish I had abandoned it ... or at least made a sample pillow beforehand to test the instructions. Here are my reasons:
1) I used a slippery polyester (poly/cotton blend?) red bias tape that I bought in a package at Jo-Ann's. It's 2" wide and is basically blanket binding. Next time I will use 100% cotton fabric for the bias tape, even if I have to make it myself. The pattern instructions strongly suggest the 100% cotton, but when I was planning out the project last year, I had no idea how to make my own bias tape. The slipperiness of the polyester made pinning and covering the cord very irritating. Fussy is the word.
2) The instructions in the pattern I used were confusing at times, even though I figured it all out in the end. Another thing I'd do differently is that I wouldn't baste the bias tape so close around the cord; some of the stitching shows up on the outside once you've put together the pillowcase at the end.
3) And, most critical, there was one very definite error that turned my pillow into the "shabby chic" thing you see here. Instead of trimming the seam allowance of the piping to 1/2", the instructions said to trim it to 1/4". (There was a photo of trimming the seam allowance that looked like 1/2" to me, but I figured, since I hadn't seen any errata about the book online, that the instructions were probably correct.) That's a big deal since it gave me a mere 1/4" of fabric to baste, pin, and sew three different layers together. NOT FUN. Also, instead of ending up with an elegant-looking fitted pillowcase for a 16" x 16" pillow form, I had a pillowcase that was about 1/4" loose all around, or a 1/2" loose each in length and width. Yeah, shabby chic. (Sure, I could have gotten another pillow form sized 17" x 17" but I didn't have time.)
4) Inserting the universal zipper turned out relatively well, but the instructions were a little confusing ... which part is the zip stop? which end is the top or bottom? (apparently the zipper pull is in the top position when closed, as seen below) ... I had to suss it out by looking at the photos. I'm just glad it worked out for me.
5) There were two different ways that the zipper foot for my sewing machine needed to be used: one way with the piping and another way with the zipper. The instructions weren't very clear on that. That's why I messed up on sewing across the zipper teeth. I didn't have enough time to fix it since all the mistakes pushed the project to the 11th hour already. And the inside/wrong side of the pillowcase is, whew, ugly.
HOWEVER, I did finally finish this project which was a long time coming. It feels good to be able to cross off something on my list that had been hanging over my head for almost a year. If I make another similar pillow soon, I believe I'd be more comfortable with the project, and I could get that fitted look instead. Hopefully everything would be neater as well.
xo, Gladys
Hi there, nice pillows! I recently made pillow cases for some old pillows but they weren't as nice as yours, just as basic as can be but I guess they look good from a distance, lol.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I like your blog, especially all the talk about Fluevogs! Actually I think searching for Fluevogs online is how I came across your blog. Those shoes sure are addictive!
Sharen
Hi Sharen! Always happy to meet fellow Fluevogers! You'll have to tell me what pair you're lusting after currently. :-) And thanks for the kind words. My pillow looks better from a distance as well, by far! Thankfully my mom doesn't care that much.
DeleteHi! Way back when I wrote the comment above I never checked to see if you had responded, and I didn't get an email or anything about your response so that's why I didn't reply to your comment, sorry! To answer your question above, I was lusting after the hopeful kanawa boots in green, but I never actually bought them. I went to the gas town store a bit too late so they didn't have my size and of course I couldn't come home empty handed. I bought the kitschy kitschy boom boom Liz in black...couldn't restrain myself haha. I also like the operetta mirellas, and I asked about the fit of them on the "For the love of Vogs" blog that you are a part of. Do you know if it is true that they fit a half size small? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteSharen
Hi again, Sharen! Have you checked Amazon to see if they have the green Kanawa in your size? Anyway, I am so jealous of your new shoes! The Kitschy Kitschy heels totally made me drool when I first saw them. Congrats on getting a pair!
DeleteI do have the Mirellas, as well as two other pairs of Operetta boots (Giulia and Zinka), and I did some research just for you! :-) I would say that the Mirellas are a tad smaller -- I'm not sure if it's as much as half a size -- but they are more snug than the Giulia. So I guess, what size you get depends on whether or not you're in between sizes in the Operetta family or not. Do you have a different pair of Operetta boots? If your regular size in Operetta boots is already quite snug, I would buy a half size larger than that. If there's some toe room, then I'd stick with your usual size unless you really hate a snug feeling.
P.S. If you having sizing questions on other Vogs, or a followup question, please feel free to email me at my gmail account here if you'd rather have a quicker response than blog time. :-)
Thanks for your research on the boots! I don't have any operetta boots but I have the Malibrans and the Malenas in a nine so you know what I did? I went to the Gravity Pope website because they have 40% off sale prices and the Mirellas were included in the sale so I decided to take a chance and get the 9's since there were no 9.5's. if they don't work out I can sell them on the Fluemarket. I bought the green ones.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Kanawa boots I've kind of put them out of my mind for now. At the store I tried on some black ones and I noticed one of the zippers was coming apart by itself in the center of the zipped up boot. It was fixed when I zipped it down and up again. Maybe it's not a big deal but it kind of made me think that the zippers used weren't the greatest and it would be very disappointing if it would happen while wearing them...and that's when I got distracted by the Liz shoes :) Well, thanks again, and I may just have more sizing questions in the future so you may here from me :)
Sharen
Wow, that sounds like a fantastic deal! I hope they fit you perfectly ... such beautiful boots. I have them in the green too. :-) Btw, if you feel up to it, you're totally welcome to share photos of your new shoes with the FTLOV ladies either by emailing the blog or sharing with us via Facebook. I personally LOVE to see fellow Vogers and their shoes. You know how Fluevog sometimes has Vogunteers for a month? Yeah, I'm addicted to those posts. :-)
DeleteThanks for the heads-up on the Kanawa. I actually looked for them again on Amazon and found they were gone there. One of the MotleyFlue on the FTLOV blog, Dorothy, actually bought them. I hope that she doesn't experience an issue with the zipper like you saw.
And yes, please feel free to ask any questions about Fluevogs (whether here, on the FTLOV site, or FB). If you have a BURNING question, back-channel email would be the quickest, but of course I check the blogs at least every other day. Congratulations on your newest pair of Vogs!!