French Boudoir Pillow

 I've called this my French Boudoir Pillow, as it does have a bit of a French theme going on, and I reckon the only place it can go is on my bed.  

(Boudoir it ain't - but it sounds good).

I think this is the most fun I've had with my sewing machine for ages, and considering the "gay abandon" with which I attacked this project, I don't think its turned out too badly.

From Moda - Curio range

 You see I had fallen in love with this piece of fabric, and wanted to do something with it.  Due to the overall stripe pattern, I didn't want to cut it up.  However, just a plain pillow seemed very boring.  How to jazz it up?

In the end I went a little bit mad.  Grabbed a bag of vintage lace and started attaching.  Then I printed off a few French themed vintage images onto printable fabric sheets.  Three vintage doilies for good measure, a handful of ancient buttons and a few bits of broken jewellery later - I had a cushion front that looked very random but okay.

 

A vintage photo reduced and a bit of broken necklace

 As for the quilting?  Um.... well that's delightfully vague too.  I've done lines, swirls and squiggles using the fabric and positioned shapes as a guide.  Any seasoned quilter who spends hours hand quilting.....  I know!  But - this was super quick, and it doesn't look half bad.

I used WordArt to add text to a vintage label image

For once, I thought I'd give the machine a rare treat, and allow it to use a few of its many stitch patterns.  Goodness knows, they are seldom used.  Some of them are really pretty.  Again I've followed the lines of the fabric, and meandered around a few shapes.

I love the randomness of it, and the lacey fabric

The back of the pillow is far more reserved.  I've used toning fabric to make an envelope opening.

I couldn't resist adding a bit of zing with a ric-rac, lace and pom-pom trim combo.  It's a smiley pillow!

To finish the edges, I have used binding as you would for a quilt.  I cut the binding at 1 3/4 inches and pressed it in half.  Using a quarter inch seam, it worked perfectly.  I intended to hand sew the seam down at the back (I did - honestly!), but....  it was just too tempting to pin and machine.  From the front it looks as though it has been quilted "in the ditch".  (Doing that again!).