Hello makers! 

If you follow our YouTube channel, then you may have recently watched a video on how to make a 9-patch block using the strip piecing technique. If you haven’t seen the video, make sure you go watch it here: 

Easy 9-Patch Block Using Strip Piecing – YouTube 

This video is part one of the project that I will be sharing with you all below: a big fluffy patchwork pillow, which is part of our Patchwork Stories. To read up on our Patchwork Stories and the role it can play in our everyday lives, check out our past blog post here:

AGF Patchwork Stories: 45-Degree Strip Piecing – Art Gallery Fabrics – The Creative Blog (agfblog.com)

This pillow is super easy and simple to make and can use any patchwork you may have such as spare blocks, and it’s fat quarter and half yard friendly. This pillow has a finished size of about 20” x 20”, but the best part is that you can make it whatever size you may want! If you’re interested to see how we made this pillow, make sure to keep reading below. 

Here is what you will need:

• The patchwork block we made in part one
• A 20” x 20” piece of batting
• (2) 20” x 15” pieces of fabric for the pillow backing. I used Ikat Diamond Rustic from ‘Kismet’
• Scissors
• A 20” square pillow form or stuffing

Start with your patchwork block laying flat on your work surface.

Grab a template that is the size of the pillow that you want. I have a piece of foam here that is 20” x 20” but you can use a large square ruler, a piece of cardboard, or anything else square that you have. Position your template at an angle on your block and mark each corner. Your template should fit perfectly so that each corner matches up with a seam. 

You can either trace around your template if the edges are smooth, like a ruler or use a longer ruler to draw a line from mark to mark. 

Take a pair of scissors and cut on your drawn lines. 

Lay your cut block on top of a piece of batting and quilt as you see fit. I personally like my batting a little larger than the piece I’m quilting just in case there is any shifting. In this case, I decided to quilt a line ¼” away from each seam for a little rustic feel. 

Trim away any excess batting and set your pillow front aside. Grab your two backing pieces and fold one long edge on each piece down ½”, then down another ½” and topstitch in place. 

Lay your pillow front right side up. Take your two backing pieces and place one right sides together on top of the pillow front with your folded edge in the middle. Place the other backing piece right sides together with the folded edge also in the middle. The two folded edges will overlap. Stitch around the entire square at 1/4".

Trim your corners, turn right sides out, stuff with your pillow form or stuffing and you have a patchwork pillow!

I had so much fun making this pillow because there wasn’t really any pattern or rhythm to follow, I could just improvise what I thought looked pretty. You can use your leftover scraps for another pillow, or any other project that you feel like making! 

I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and I would love to see what your patchwork pillows look like, so make sure to tag us on social media using the hashtag #AGFPatchworkStories.

Happy sewing!

Karli