Welcome to the Vintage Home Sewing Book Blog Tour

Hi! It’s Amy Chappell from Ameroonie Designs here to share with you this Valentine’s version of the Embroidered Bicycle Pillow found in the fun pattern book Vintage Home Sewing by Beverly McCullough from Nancy’s Notions. I made a slight change to the original pattern found in the book by adding love notes and hearts in the basket and I love it! Read through all the directions (both in the book and in this post) before beginning. If you’d rather watch a video tutorial for this project, you can find it on the Therm O Web YouTube channel.

Vintage Home Sewing Book

Vintage Home Sewing Project

• To get started you will need a copy of this fabulous book.
• You will also need some fabric- I am using Hello Sweetheart by Echo Park for Riley Blake Designs as well as some basics by Riley Blake Designs- blossoms (light pink and gray) and kisses (hot pink).
• In addition, you will need Heat n Bond–  EZ Print Sheets are my favorite because they make quick work of preparing your applique pieces, but you can use yardage as well. You will need either Light or Featherlight- I prefer featherlight because you are layering multiple layers in some places and it has such a light feel to it.
• Finally- to add the Valentine touches, you will need felt scraps in coordinating colors, embroidery floss, also in coordinating colors, and my pattern pieces that you can download here.
• To finish the pillow front, I also used Spray n Bond Spray Basting Adhesive and Stitch n Sew, Sew in Fleece, but you can also use Heat n Bond Fusible Fleece to quilt the pillow.

• To get started, we will copy the applique pieces onto the Heat n Bond, I use my printer, but you can also trace them. *Note: you will need to make TWO wheels, so I like to just use a scrap of Heat n Bond that I have saved from other projects, or you can just trace a second wheel onto another sheet of EZ print or yardage Heat n Bond. ALSO: the pattern pieces are already in mirror image, so you DO NOT need to reverse the image before tracing.
• Follow the package directions to adhere the Heat n Bond onto the Wrong side of the respective fabrics you want to use.
• Cut out all the applique pieces and remove paper backing.

• Cut out the background fabric for the applique (the top of the pillow front) set aside.
• I like to make a copy of the Applique layout guide to position my applique pieces.
• Mark a line 1″ below the bottom of the wheels to determine where the place the bottom of the background fabric.
• Mark a line 4 3/4″ from the front edge of the front tire on your 1″ line (this marks the center of the bicycle)

• Fold your background fabric in half along the 18″ side, pinch a small crease along the bottom edge in the center.
• I like to use a light box to help me position the applique pieces if you have one- do the remaining steps on top of your lightbox.
• Place your Layout Guide on your surface.
• Lay your background fabric on top of your layout guide. Line up the bottom edge with your marked line 1″ from the tires, and center your crease on the fabric with your marked line that is 4 3/4″ from the front tire (the center of the bike) this will ensure your bicycle is properly centered on the fabric and positioned accurately.
• Begin to lay your applique pieces on the layout guide, starting with the back pieces first.
• I find it helpful to place a few pieces and then fuse them, then go back, position some more and fuse again. This keeps you from accidentally moving some of the pieces as you go.
• Once all your pieces are fused, return to the layout guide to add marks for the spokes of the wheels, handlebars, etc. I use a frixon pen, but you can use a water-soluble marking pen, or marking tool of choice.
• Stitch around all of your applique pieces and detail lines. You can do this with a darning foot (free motion quilting foot) or your regular presser foot. I like to use a contrasting thread to outline them.

• Trace the pattern pieces for the felt letters and hearts onto freezer paper
• use a hot, dry iron to fuse the freezer paper to the felt
• cut out the felt shapes

• Position the felt pieces as desired and stitch them onto the applique using embroidery floss (a single strand) or thread.
• Use black floss to add the details to the bird wing and eye

• Cut out the fabric for the pillow front bottom- *NOTE: the pattern is off by 1″ for the pillow front -after sewing the top and bottom together you end up with a 17″ X 18″ piece, to compensate, I recommend adding 1″ to the height of the bottom of the pillow front piece.
• Follow the rest of the directions in the book for quilting, and adding the pillow back. *NOTE: the book uses an envelope closure for the back of the pillow, I prefer to use a hidden zipper pillow back. You can find the directions for this method on my blog.

Add your pillow form to your new pillow cover and enjoy! I loved making this pattern and I’m excited to try more projects from this fun book!

xoxo,

Amy

Our sweet friends at Nancy’s Notions would like you to have a chance to enjoy this absolutely adorable book from our talented friend, Beverly McCullough, aka Flamingo Toes! So we’re offering you a chance to win this book plus $20 to spend in our Therm O Web shop! You can pick up the same supplies Beverly uses in the book or perhaps try some new items! The choice is yours!

Just follow the Rafflecopter to get yourself entered to win! We’ll select one random winner on Wednesday, January 23rd to win!

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