Appliqued Autumn Pillows

Materials and Tools
(for two pillows)

1 yard each of three colors (pumpkin, cranberry and yellow) of high-quality wool felt, 45 inches wide
two 16-inch pillow forms
thread
heat-transfer pen
tracing paper
pinking shears or wheel
zipper foot for sewing machine
pins

Steps:

1. For each pillow, cut three pieces of fabric 3 to 4 inches larger than your pillow form. For the cranberry pillow, make the middle flange piece an inch bigger than the others so that it hangs out a little bit.

2. Use pinking shears or a pinking wheel to make a decorative edge on all the pieces.

3. Make tagboard templates of your leaves. Trace the leaves onto typing paper. We used a heat-transfer pen.

4. Press the typing paper outline face down onto the piece or pieces of accent fabric that will become your appliqués. Cut out the appliqués.

5. Use a decorative stitch on your sewing machine to appliqué the leaves. Skip to step 10 if you’re appliquéing just one side.

6. For the cranberry pillow, arrange your three pieces for sewing. The pieces with the appliquéd leaves will be right side out on top and bottom, with the middle piece sandwiched in between.

7. Stitch around the pillow top 2 to 3 inches from the edge (depending on how deep you want your flange to be). Leave a 10-inch opening to insert the pillow form.

8. Turn the pillow inside out and carefully cut the middle out of the centerpiece (to reduce the bulk). Turn pillow right side out.

9. Insert the form and use a zipper foot to sew the opening closed.

10. For the pumpkin-colored pillow, arrange your two non-appliquéd pieces so that they overlap by 6 inches. Pin. This will be the back of your pillow. Trim the edges to the same size as the front.

11. Arrange your pieces for sewing and topstitch a flange 2 inches from the edge of fabric.

12. Slip in the pillow form.