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Hawaiian Appliqué Pillow
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Create a mini tropical paradise in your home with this Hawaiian quilt cushion!
Developed in the 1820s, the Hawaiian style of quilting with appliqué has a very distinctive style. Traditionally, one piece of appliqué entirely filled a quilt top, using bright colours for the appliqué with a plain background, often in red and white. The designs are inspired by the flora and fauna of the island, and can be very simple or very intricate, using a piece of fabric folded into eight and cut very much like you may have done as a child when making snowflake Christmas decorations!
Folding fabric and then cutting your design can be quite tricky, particularly if using an adhesive sheet to attach the appliqué design to the background fabric, as I did here, because the fabrics are so thick, so I’ve made this design to be placed on fabric folded into four rather than eight.
There are many methods you can use to sew the appliqué onto the background, from needle-turn appliqué or hand-sewn blanket stitch to machine sewing with satin stitch or blanket stitch – the choice is yours, depending on your skill level and patience! I’m using free-motion embroidery, but as the design is quite simple you could use a short straight stitch on your machine if you prefer. If needle turning, add 1/8in (3mm) to the outside of the design, and don’t use a fusible adhesive sheet.
A fusible adhesive sheet will hold the appliqué securely as you sew. For machine sewing, this is by far the easiest way as it won’t allow the fabric to shift when sewing. Otherwise, try using a spray starch to help prevent fraying (which will wash out afterwards) and lots of tacking/basting stitches, or a tacking/basting spray (such as Odif 505) to hold the appliqué in place.
Although this project is a pillow cover, there’s no reason why this couldn’t be a quilt block. If you make up a few blocks and sew them together, you’ll have an impressive quilt!
Finished size: 15in (38cm) square
Note: Use a ½in (1.25cm) seam allowance throughout unless otherwise stated.
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You will need:
Equipment
- Sewing machine
- Free-motion/darning foot, for your sewing machine
- Zipper or piping foot, for your sewing machine
- Fabric shears
- Pencil or erasable fabric marker
- Fabric clips
- Optional: glue stick, to secure the zip while you sew; tacking/basting spray; starch spray
Materials
- 32 x 19in (81 x 48cm) piece of fabric for the pillow front and back: mine is cream cotton
- 15in (38cm) square of appliqué fabric: mine is green cotton
- 15in (38cm) square of fusible adhesive sheet (Bondaweb)
- 15in (38cm) square of tear-away stabilizer
- 66in (168cm) of standard piping cord
- 33 x 2in (84 x 5cm) strip of fabric to cover the piping: I used the same green cotton as for the appliqué, or you could use 66in (168cm) of coordinating bias binding that is 1in (2.5cm) wide when unfolded
- 13in (33cm) zip – you could use a longer one and cut it to size
- 15in (38cm) square pillow pad
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Project steps:
Step 1
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Step 2
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