Flutter Pillows

It seems I'm taking it a bit easy this summer (well, besides being chauffeur to my kids!), but I am happy to report I've finished a couple of pillows using the oh-so-cute Flutter fabric by Laura Gunn. Last time I shared this fabric, I mentioned I paired it with some of Laura's Painter's Canvas (which in case you are wondering, is quilting cotton, not actual canvas). She has a huge variety of colors but I selected a rainbow assortment.

I ended up adding piping to the butterfly pillow. I used a gray painters canvas I had on hand. I'm not exactly experienced with piping. I think the last time I made some was when I put together my Weekender. It turned out...ok. I know some people requested a tutorial and I'm sure there are much more experienced sources out there for that. :) I free motion quilted this pillow with some random loop-de-loops around the butterflies. I thought it gave a nice fluttering effect.

For my second pillow, I more or less fussy cut some little bugs out of the fabric. The different color bugs were all a bit different sizes, but I averaged them out to 2-1/4" x 3-1/2". I then cut an assortment of the Painter's Canvas the same size and made a little rectangular patchwork design. I decided to quilt this one using decorative stitch 301 on my Bernina 750QE, using my usual 50 weight Aurifil thread in white.

I love that this machine does even wider stitches than my "old" Bernina (not really old). If your machine has decorative stitches and you haven't checked them out, I encourage you to do that! I've done this same technique on another pillow, using my Bernina 440QE and was thrilled with how that turned out as well.

One feature I tried out on my new machine this time was the "Start-Stop" button. See that green glowing button above? When I was ready to stitch, I pushed that button and it took off sewing without me using the foot pedal. I simply guided the fabric a bit. This was a nice feature considering how many lines I was stitching and let's face it - repetitive decorative lines can feel a bit monotonous at times.

The backs of the pillows are more of the Flutter fabric. I've given these to my daughter for her bedroom and they are already happily being used for her dolls.