A Fly A Kite Nursery Floor Pillow Tutorial : :

After a super busy weekend, yesterday we had to make a spur of the moment trip out of town for the day, and now I am not feeling very well. at. all. Blah! I have lots of orders to catch up on today, and hopefully I will feel better quickly. While I catch-up and rest-up, I thought this would be the perfect time to share one of the tutorials that I had created as part of the Riley Blake Design Team, right here!

Today I'm sharing a tutorial for a kite themed nursery floor pillow using Riley Blake's Fly A Kite collection by October Afternoon. This step by step tutorial is for making a large floor pillow, however you can make a smaller version by simply eliminating a few steps. If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments or email me at maureencracknell@hotmail.com. Now let's get started!!

What you'll need : :

• 4 - fat quarters or 1/4 yd cuts of Fly A Kite prints (fabrics for the center pillow kite shape)
• 1 - 1/2 yd Fly A Kite solid or print for corner pieces
• 1 - fat quarter or 1/4 yd cut for top and bottom border pieces (cut 2 - 3.5" x 18" strips)
• 1 - fat quarter or 1/4 yd cut for side border pieces (cut 2 - 3.5" x 24" strips)
• 1 - 1 yd cut of main Fly A Kite print for the pillow back fabrics
• 1 - 24" x 24" pillow insert
• 1 - 25" x 25" piece of batting
• coordinating thread
• Sewing pins & basting pins
• Sharp scissors and/or a rotary cutter/mat set 
• 1 - 9.5" square piece of sturdy card stock for template 

-- Cut a template measuring a 9.5" square from sturdy card stock or cardboard

-- Cut the measurements below from the Fly A Kite fat quarters or yardage for each block

1. Use rotary cutter, mat, and ruler to cut fabrics 2. Layout fabrics in an order beginning with the smallest cut strip at the bottom, centering each piece like picture two below 3. Repeat this step for all four blocks 4. Press with iron so seams are facing forward

5. Take the 9.5" square template and place in the very center of the block

6. With the template as a guide, use a ruler and rotary cutter to trim away excess fabric 7. Repeat for all four sides until you have a perfect 9.5" square block

8. Repeat this step with each of the four pieced fabrics

9. Layout all four 9.5" blocks to create a kite shape

Notice those kite points! :)

10. Begin sewing blocks together, take two blocks right sides facing and pin with seams down 11. Using a 1/4" seam, sew together, repeat with the top two blocks 12. Press well with seams open 13. With right sides facing, pin top and bottom sewn pieces together, sew using 1/4" seam

14. Add border fabrics -- first pin and sew the top and bottom border pieces measuring 3.5" x 18", next add the side border pieces measuring 3.5" x 24" 15. Using basting pins, baste finished quilt top to 25" square piece of batting

16. Add machine quilting -- beginning in the inner-most diamond shape, staying close to the seams, sew following the diamond shapes that make up the kite design. Stop and pivot at each corner, sewing outward. I "stitch in the ditch" to avoid having to stop when making my way throughout each diamond shape. Continue following the diamond shape pattern until the entire pillow top is quilted

Remove pins and the pillow top is finished! (The second photo is an example of what the reverse side should look like after quilting) Handing quilting this would be beautiful!

Creating an envelope style back : :

17. Cut two pieces of fabric measuring 18" x 24" from the yard of fabric for the back 18. On one edge of each piece, with wrong side facing, fold over one edge a 1/4", press, fold over 1/4" again, press again 19. Pin in place 20. Sew on the inner and outer edge of that fold to create a double seam on both pieces
21. With right sides facing, place backing fabrics on the quilted pillow top

22. Pin in place

23. Using a 1/4" seam, sew around the perimeter of the pillow 24. Trim away excess fabric and batting  
25. Add a zigzag stitch around the perimeter of the pillow 26. Trim corners

Turn finished pillow top right side out, insert pillow form, and VOILA! Your Fly A Kite Nursery Floor Pillow is finished!!

To create an 18" pillow with this design, simply eliminate the border, adjust the batting needed to a 19" square, and change the measurement of both pieces of fabric needed to make the pillow back envelope closure to 13.5" x 18".

They think make a wonderful set!!

I hope you enjoy seeing my very first Design Team Project here today! If you do give this tutorial or any of my others a go at anytime, be sure to share on my Facebook page or in my Maureen Cracknell Handmade Flickr group anytime!

Wishing a wonderful week to all!! ♥,  Maureen 
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