No Pattern Used: Knife-edge Pillow Covers (Knife-edge Pillow Covers) - Type:Home Dec
Review submitted in Inspired By Pinterest: Home Dec Challenge! Contest  | | Viewed 125 times
| | Review rated Helpful by 1 people Very Helpful by 2 people | | Reviewed by: | Judy Kski | 
 | About Judy Kski | | FL USA | | Member since: 10/26/08 | | Reviews written: 55 | | Sewing skills:Intermediate | | Favored by: 6 people | | patterns reviewed: 53 | | Bio: more... |
| | Posted on: | 2/28/13 11:45 PM | | Project Photo: |  | | | | Fabric: | Polyester Woven [See other projects in this fabric] | | Related Links | Click on  to add a link |
| Pinterest Inspiration Photo: I had a basic pillow cover in mind with just a little something on the face to jazz it up a bit. Each time I came up with a pillow I liked, something about it wasn't quite right. The Home Dec print fabric had some body so whatever I chose to embellish the front of the cover with, it needed to be simple. Well, there goes the idea for all those tucks. I was using an invisible zipper as a closure so I didn't want anything to interfere with the installation. Nix the idea of cording. Bingo! No cording...simple tucks...I found my inspiration pillow cover.
Pillow covers in their new home
Pattern Sizing: I had a 16" x 16" pillow form in my stash and a tutorial for installing an invisible zipper in a knife-edge pillow or pillow cover.
Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it? I didn't use a pattern and simply drew four - 16 1/2" x 16 1/2" squares on the back of my fabric with a water soluble marker.
Were the instructions easy to follow? I used a combination of instructions from this tutorial and "Sewing for the Home" from the Singer Sewing Reference Library, pgs. 72-73. Mainly, I followed the instructions from the tutorial. The book provided instructions for tapering the pillow corners to avoid dog ears.
What did you particularly like or dislike about the tutorial? The tutorial entitled "Tutorial Tuesday: Throw Pillow with Invisible Zipper" was written by Erin at www.schlosserdesigns.com. It was very helpful since I'd never installed an invisible zipper. Erin gave excellent instructions every step of the way. There was nothing to dislike.
Fabric Used: I bought fabric from the Home Dec Department at Jo-Ann's in 2005 so I'm not sure of the fiber content. The base fabric has a nice jacquard weave that you can't really see within the print on the fabric. Since it had been aging in my stash for so long, that was another form of inspiration for me to enter this challenge.
Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I didn't make the basic pillow in the tutorial. I studied the photo of the inspiration pillow several times to try and figure out what size tucks to make and where to locate them. By draping the fabric over a pillow form and pinching the fabric together, I got a feel for what would provide the most eye appeal. I decided that 1/2" tucks spaced four inches in from all four sides of the pillow form front would work the best. I did the two vertical tucks first followed by the horizontal ones. Here is a photo of the completed tucks.
Generally, I avoid Home Dec projects because of all the straight lines which bore me. Since I've never installed an invisible zipper in any of my garments, I decided to challenge myself and in turn keep it interesting. Here a photo of the invisible zipper after attaching it to the front and back of the pillow.
As I was getting ready to make the pillow covers, I remembered a tip I picked up in a Home Dec class I attended in January 2012. It can be found on pg. 72, Steps 1 - 3, in "Sewing for the Home" from the Singer Sewing Reference Library. To prevent dog-eared corners on square pillows, follow these directions:
1. Fold the pillow top into fourths. Mark a point halfway between corner and fold on each open side. At corner, mark a point 1/2" from each raw edge.
2. Mark lines, tapering from raw edges at center marks to mark at corner. Cut on marked lines.
3. Use pillow top as pattern for cutting pillow back so all corners are tapered. For zippered pillow cover, corners may be tapered on pillow after the zipper is inserted.
Here is how it looks:
How to Prevent Dog-eared Corners
I wasn't able to taper the zippered side of my pillow because the zipper I bought didn't extend from one end of the pillow to the other. When I went to install it, I should have centered it since it was short (15"). Instead, I lined the bottom of the zipper up with one side and thought I could make up for it when I sewed the front to the back. Wrong answer! I had lots of excess room on one side and very little on the other. I guess you can tell this is the first time I EVER put a zipper in a pillow. The result: the top of my pillow has no dog ears, but the bottom does.
Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others? This was actually a fun project to do using my Mood Board on Pinterest. I'll make pillows again, but they'll be a completely different style.
Conclusion: I kept hearing about Pinterest here at PR and from members of the local ASG Chapter. I finally HAD to go the Pinterest website and see what it was all about. It took a couple hours to find my inspiration pillows, but I developed several other categories along the way. It was definitely time well spent.
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5 Comments
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Great Review Judy, unfortunately your pictures aren't linking for me. Thanks Judy, the linky now works for me. Great review, and your pillows are so pretty, love the tucks, and the tip on the dog ears is so helpful.
3/1/13 1:00 AM
The tucks are a really good idea.
3/1/13 9:26 AM
Very informative review. Great job on the pillows -- love your fabric choice. Good Luck!!!
3/1/13 10:52 AM
Thanks for the tip on how to prevent dog-eared corners. Also, your invisible zipper really is invisible--great job on that. And those vertical and horizontal folds look very tricky. You got everything lined up, folded, stitched exactly right and I know that wasn't easy. I can only imagine how you had to cajole those tucks into place where horizontal crossed vertical. Great pillows and great project. Thanks for the links.
3/1/13 1:06 PM
The dog ear avoidance technique is really interesting. I've never inserted a zipper in a pillow before either, but intend to do so in the future, so I appreciate all the information you provided! Love the tucks too :)
3/2/13 8:33 PM