It’s fruit week here at Thermoweb and to celebrate, Carla at Creatin’ in the Sticks is on the blog today to share a fun summertime watermelon truck pillow cover. The pieces for this appliqued pillow are printed on HeatNBond® EZ Print Lite with no tracing required and the embroidery is super quick with StitchnSew EZ Quilt Block Sheets.

Life is sweet with a truckload of watermelon.

HeatnBond EZ Print Lite Watermelon Truck Pillow Cover

by Carla Henton from Creatin’ in the Sticks

Size: 10″ x 16″ Pillow Cover

Please read through the complete instructions before starting.

Supplies:

Print the FREE PDF pattern templates – HERE

SprayNBond Basting Adhesive

StitchNSew™ fleece – 11” x 17”

HeatnBond EZ Print Lite iron-on adhesive – 3 sheets

StitchnSew EZ Quilt Block Sheets – 1 sheet

Fabric:

White:

1 piece 10 ½” x 16 ½”

Grey:

2 pieces for binding 2” x WOF (width of fabric)

2 pieces for pillow cover back 10 ½” x 12 ½”

Muslin:

Or other fabric that will not be seen,

1 piece 11” x 17”

Fabric scraps for applique pieces:

Red, 3 shades of green, watermelon, white, grey, brown

Other Supplies:

Aurifil thread: 50wt # 2692

Inkjet printer

Iron – I love my Oliso Pro

Basic sewing supplies – scissors, thread, needles, pins, sewing machine, etc.

1 pillow form 10” x 16”

Watermelon Truck Instructions:

All seams are stitched with ¼” seams unless otherwise stated.

Step 1, Watermelon Truck applique:

Print the templates (already reversed for you) with HeatnBond EZ Print Lite sheets following the package instructions. The applique pieces are pages 1-3 of the pattern templates.

Fuse the HeatnBond EZ Print Lite templates to the back of the scraps of fabrics. Cut out the templates, peel off the backing paper, place the pieces on pillow top background as in the picture using the key as a guide, and bond the pieces following the package instructions all at once in sections.

Step 2, quilt the pillow top:

Using SprayNBond Basting Adhesive, sandwich the StitchNSew™ fleece between the backing 17” x 11” muslin and the applique truck pillow top. The first step is to protect the work surface then lay the muslin right side down. Place the fleece on top of the muslin. Fold half of the fleece over and spray the back with the basting spray.

Lay the fleece back on the fabric and smooth the fleece with hands. Next, fold the other side over, spray, and smooth back over the fabric.

Center the pillow top, right side up, on top of the fleece. Fold one side over and spray the wrong side with SprayNBond Basting Adhesive. Fold back over the fleece and smooth. Repeat the process on the other half of the pillow top.

Quilt the pillow top by stitching around the applique pieces with a straight stitch 2 or 3 times with Aurifil 50 wt. thread # 2692.

Step 3, stitch “Life is Sweet” on the pillow top

Print the letter pattern, page 4 of the templates, on one StitchnSew EZ Quilt Block Sheets. The quilt block sheet is transparent to make placement of the letters easy. Use SpraynBond • Basting Adhesive to hold the quilt block sheet in place. This is the pattern to stitch the letters with a sewing machine or embroidery if it is preferred.

Machine stitch on top of the quilt block sheet to make the letters. Use a triple stitch or stitch a single stitch 2 or 3 times. After the stitching is finished, gently tear away the quilt block sheet.

Trim the excess fleece and backing fabric even with the pillow top.

Step 4, finish the pillow cover:

Hem one of the short ends of both 10 ½” x 12 ½” grey pillow backing pieces by turning under ½” and pressing and then turning under again, pressing, and stitching in place. Lay one of the hemmed pieces right side up on the back of the pillow top with the hem in the center.

Overlap the other piece over the first piece and pin. Baste 1/8” from the edge all around.

Apply the binding using your favorite method.

My grandpa raised watermelon on his farm and people would come from all over to purchase his sweet watermelon. A cherished picture of him with a truckload of watermelon was the inspiration for this pillow. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.