I made a Christmasy quilt, so clearly some coordinating pillows were next on my list. Today I’m going to show you how you can use some of the strips left over on your fat quarters from the Argyle Christmas Quilt to make a set of pillows. 

In addition to your strips of fabric, you will need a fat quarter for the “background” of one pillow, and the ornament of the other (just one fat quarter will make both). You’ll also need some binding if you want to frame your pillows with it (4 2.5″ x WOF strips), some fabric to back them (1/2yd will work for two pillows), two pieces of batting at least 18″ square, and some parchment or freezer paper. Its also useful to have a dinner plate as a template for the ornaments. Note that you can make whatever shape you like here, so feel free to get creative!!  

So first we are going to make our template. Just trace around your dinner plate onto the parchment paper and add a little top for the ornament.

Cut out the shape and trace it onto the back of the main square of fabric.

Sew 1/2″ from the line you just traced on the outside, preferably in a thread the same color as the fabric. You are going to use this line of stitches as a pressing guide. 

Cut around the ornament along the drawn line. Clip up to (but not through) the line of stitching all the way around the seam allowance then press it to the wrong side. 

Set aside the ornament piece since that’s for our second pillow. Now we are going to prep the ornament part for the squared ornament piece. 

Trace the ornament shape onto your batting and draw a straight line in the middle somewhere. This will just be a guide for sewing on the first strip. Continue to foundation piece strips onto the marked ornament section of the batting until you have filled the space. 

Once you have filled it, cover the batting with the fabric that has the cut out and pin it in place. Edgestitch around the ornament with a matching thread. 

You can go back and add some decorative hand stitches if you would like. 

Finish up the pillow with your backing and method of choice (I love using the zippered flap method). I also used some binding to give my pillows an extra pop of color.

Onto the second pillow!

Sew a line of stitches 1/2″ from the edge of your ornament piece. Clip all the way around (not through the line of stitches) and press the seam allowance to the wrong side of the fabric. (I chose to hack off the top of the ornament and do a circle instead.) 

Cover your batting with strips of fabric using foundation paper piecing. Once the batting is covered, pin down the ornament shape and edgestitch. 

Since I used a circle, I added a top to my ornament with some embroidery. You can do all sorts of things to personalize your pillow with just a little floss and a needle! 

Finish your pillow using the same method as the one before, and you have two great new holiday pillows! 

I’d love to see what you are making! Feel free to add any pictures to my Flickr group and use #ArgyleChristmas on social media! If you would like to download the Argyle Christmas Quilt Pattern, you can find it right here.

Have a great Tuesday!

-Meredith