A Scrappy Churn Dash Pillow Cover

A handful of bright orange, black, and white scraps piece up into a churn dash accent pillow cover. It’s a fast, satisfying way to use up a fall-colored stash. This post covers chain piecing the center patch, then adding a decorative stitch and piecing a churn dash border. It also covers layering and quilting the top, then finishing it with an envelope back. Ready?

materials

fabric

• 18 orange 2½″ squares, for the pieced center patch
• 2 black 3″  squares, 2 black 1½″ x 12½″ strips, 4 black 1½″ x 8½″ strips, and 2 black 1½″ x 14½″ strips, for the inner and pieced outer border
• 2 white 3″  squares, 2 white 1½″ x 8½″ strips, and 2 white 1½″ x 14½″ strips, for the pieced outer border
• backing panels: one 12½″ x 18″ piece and one 12½″ x 7½″ piece, for the envelope back
• 14½″ x 20½″ [36.8 x 52.1cm] fabric, for the pillow front backing

thread

• piecing thread
• black and white thread, for the decorative and quilting stitches

notions

• 14½″ x 20½″ [36.8 x 52.1cm] batting
• 3″ x 14½″ [7.6 x 36.8cm] piece of temporary tear-away stabilizer
• pillow form to fit the finished cover, about 12½″ x 18½″
• rotary cutter, ruler, and cutting mat
• pins
• iron

Chain-piece the center patch

Arrange the 18 orange squares into 3 rows of 6. A programmable stitch-length feature speeds up chain piecing on repetitive seams. Set the seam length once, then sew it again with a single press, without lining up each new pair by hand. Sew the first two squares of each row, then keep feeding pairs through in sequence. Continue until all three rows are pieced. Press the top and bottom rows one direction, and the middle row the other way, so the rows nest together. Sew the three rows together. Add the black inner border strips to the top, bottom, and sides of the pieced center.

Piece a churn dash border

A wide decorative stitch dresses up two of the white border strips before assembly. Back the fabric with a scrap of tear-away stabilizer, then stitch a wide built-in stitch in a thread color that contrasts with the fabric.

Four half-square-triangle units finish the corners. Draw a diagonal line on the wrong side of each white 3″ square. Layer it right sides together with a black square. Sew a scant ¼″ from each side of the drawn line, then cut on the line. Press each unit toward the black fabric, then trim to a 2½″ square.

Lay out the black and white strips and half-square triangles around the center patch, with the white sides facing in. Piece the border strips together in sections first. Sew the shorter sections to the sides of the center patch, then the longer, half-square-triangle sections to the top and bottom. The finished top should measure about 12½″ x 18½″.

Layer and quilt

Layer the backing right side up, then the batting, then the pieced top right side up. Pin through all the layers, avoiding the seams. Stitch in the ditch first. Trace the seam lines around the orange center patch, then along both sides of the white churn dash strips. This secures the layers almost invisibly. Next, quilt the center squares with diagonal lines in a contrasting thread. Pivot at the corners to keep each line continuous. The result adds a bit of visual movement across the patchwork.

Finish the envelope back

Hem one short edge of each backing panel with a narrow double fold, pressed and stitched. Lay the shorter panel over the quilted top, hemmed edge toward the center. Layer the longer panel on top from the opposite edge, overlapping the two in the middle. Pin all the way around. Sew the layers together with a regular straight stitch first, since it unpicks more easily than an overcast stitch if something needs fixing. Turn the cover right side out to check that it lies flat and the pillow form fits. Turn it back inside out, then finish the raw edges with an overcast stitch, guiding the seam allowance closely under the needle. Clip the corners and turn the cover right side out one last time. It’s ready to fill.

Original series by Sarah Vanderburgh on QUILTsocial.com. Photos by Sarah Vanderburgh