Shhhhh

Stash disclosure

More scarves on the way after a little shopping trip. Yes yes, my bad. But also remember I'm MAKING a lot of presents this year. Unfortunately there hasn't been not much sewing going on the past two evenings. The major cause : this is my on-call week for work. What that means: I get all emergency calls for my department from 5PM to 8AM during week days and all day Saturday and Sunday (yes, you are reading this right and that's on top of the regular work week). Thankfully I only have to do it for a week every 6 weeks. And mostly, it is pretty quiet. Except not so much so far this time.  

At least I was able to catch up on emails, work on couple of tutorials and I'm consoling myself of the lack of crafting by dreaming about the great things I'm going to make with my new stash additions:

Don't you love the combination of chocolate brown, pink and lime green?

And how about this sweet field of flowers on an Turquoise background? 

Tutorial - Herringbone tucks pillows

For a pair of 18x18 pillows you will need:

• 2 pillow forms 18x18 - I make mine from scratch but you can buy them at any craft store
• 2 yards of fabric in 44" wide - I used moleskin because it has a bit of stretch it is very soft and doesn't wrinkle which is a bonus for throw pillows.
• Coordinating thread or invisible thread
• Ruler and fabric marking device - chalk, pencil or marker
• Sewing machine (best with fence attachment)
• Scissors, pins and other basic sewing supplies

Remove the selvage then cut your fabric in half lengthwise this will yield 2 long rectangles about 21 inches wide

Tape it to your cutting table with painter's tape, especially if you use stretchy fabric

Mark a grid 2x2 leaving 6 inches unmarked on one end and 18 on the other end. This is the part where you need to be fussy and precise.

Iron each short line to mark the pleats

Set your sewing machine fence to 1/2 inch

Fold and sew along each pleat

Iron as flat as possible

Sew along the line lengthwise every other line

Iron the pleats in the reverse directions

Sew along the skipped lines

Hem each end

Pin the fabric right side in with the short flat on top of the long flat

Sew the sides leaving 1/2 in sewing allowance

Wash to remove the marks

Put your pillows inside the pillowcases

Put your feet up and enjoy !

Linking up to some of these parties 

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A 2010 favorite !