Happy 80th Birthday Fairfield World! To celebrate such an important anniversary, Fairfield invited 80 designers to each share a project featuring Fairfield Poly-fil Premium Fiber Fill and happily I get to join the party. This is actually a project which I first did a few years ago but I love it so much that I decided to share it again. It is a little accent pillow inspired by a letterpress class that I once took. But instead of metal type and ink, I used rubber stamps and an ink pad. Just in time for the holidays!
Here's how:
Holly Jolly Stamped Accent Pillow
Materials:
Tools:
- Ann Butler Designs EZ-De's 2" Flourish Alphabet Stamps (if you have trouble finding these try your favorite alphabet stamps)
- Color Box Crafters Ink by Clearsnap: Night
- Clear acrylic stamping blocks
- Tulip® Fabric Markers™ Fine Writer Tip Pack (red, light blue, dark blue)
- Scissors
- Sewing Machine
- White thread / pins / needle
- Iron /pressing cloth
Instructions:
1. Cut the following from the Oly*fun fabric :
- two 18" x 5 1/2" rectangles - Cherry Pop
- one 18" x 4" strip - Snow White
- two 18" x 14" rectangles and two 18" x 1 1/2" strips - Sky Blue
- two 13" x 16" rectangles- Cherry Pop - for the inner pillow case
- If the fabric is wrinkled, use an iron set to "low" and a pressing cloth. Be careful here because you don't want your iron to get too hot and melt the Oly*Fun.
2. Stamp the word "Holly" all over one red 18"x 5 1/2" rectangle and the word "Jolly" on the second red 18"x5 1/2" rectangle. Heat set the ink by covering the stamped rectangles with a pressing cloth and iron. (Again, be careful that your iron does not get too hot and melt the Oly*Fun.)
3. Line up a long edge of an 18"x 1 1/2" blue strip to the long top edge of the 18" x 4" white strip. Pin and sew with a 1/2" seam. Repeat with the second blue strip attaching it to the bottom long edge of the white strip.
4. Flatten out the now stitched together blue and white strips, folding each of the two seams away from the white center. As pictured above, pin on the front and top stitch 1/4" away from the inner blue edges. (The blue strips in the above picture look a little wide and confusing but stick with the measurements and it will all turn out fine.)
5. Pin a red stamped rectangle to the top blue strip - front sides together - and sew a 1/2" seam. Repeat for the remaining red stamped rectangle stitching it to the bottom blue strip. (Make sure that you place the red stamped rectangles so that the read correctly.) Open and flatten the entire piece, folding the new red/blue seams on the back toward the center white strip. Pin on the front and top stitch down along the blue stripe following your previous top stitch.
6. Draw a simple holly berries and leaves design on a piece of paper to use as a pattern. Place the pattern under the white strip and trace it with the fabric markers. Decorate the entire white strip.
7. I like my pillows with an opening in the back so that I can easily remove the outer pillow cover and swap it out when I fancy a change of decor. To make the back opening of the pillow cover, fold over 6" of the end of one of the 18" x 14" blue rectangles. Topstitch 1/2" from the folded end. Repeat for the second blue rectangle. Place the stamped piece face side up on the table and pin the blue rectangles face side down with the folded ends overlapped in the middle as pictured above. Stitch a 1/2" seam all along the outer edges. Trim the corners so that you get nice sharp corners when you turn the pillow cover inside out. Turn the pillow cover inside out by reaching into the opening that is made by the overlapped blue rectangles.
8. If you have a premade pillow form, you can skip the next step. Otherwise to make your own removable inner pillow form, pin together the two red 16" rectangles and stitch 1/2" along all four sides leaving a 6" opening. Reach inside and turn the red pillow form inside out. Stuff with Poly-fil Fiber Fill so that the pillow form is nice and fat. Stitch the 4"opening closed by hand.
9. Insert the stuffed pillow form into the pillow case and fluff it into place.
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I had so much fun making this! And by adding an opening to the back of the pillow case, it is easy to remove the pillow insert and add it to a new pillow case. Try this basic pillow design and vary it by stamping your own personal message or changing the color scheme to match any holiday, season or event. Hmmm - I'm thinking this could make a super cute birthday pillow.... :)
Be sure to see all the other projects on the Fairfield World Instagram account for some wonderful ideas!
