Are you all sick of Color Jolt-themed items yet? No? Good because this Christmas-themed Color Jolt pillow is one of my very favorite things and I’m excited to share it with you. Click the button below to get the pattern if you love it like I do!
I made this one with Figo Fabrics’ Polar Magic by Lemonni line of Christmas fabrics, focusing on the more traditional green and red prints. The background fabric is Hyperbolic in Overlook, which is part of the Redux line by Giucy Giuce for Andover. I love this Hyperbolic fabric as a background for modern designs. It does require a little extra thinking (and some inefficient cutting) because it’s directional, but I think the result is worth it, especially on a smaller project like this. The pattern fabric requirements assume you’re using a non-directional print so if you’re planning on something that is directional, you’ll need more fabric than the pattern calls for. (Again…. worth it!).
I’ll be honest… this was supposed to be a gift but I’m not sure I’m going to be able to part with it. Luckily I bought a fat quarter bundle of these prints which is a lot more than this pattern calls for so maybe I’ll make a few more and give out matching pillows this year?
This pillow cover finishes at 18″ x 18″ and uses an envelope-style closure (so no zippers to deal with! Score!) If you’ve been hanging around for a while, you know that my roots go deep into foundation paper piecing. For this coming year I’ve got several traditionally pieced designs in the works as well but you can’t really beat paper piecing for projects this size so this pattern is FPP. I love the freedom to use any angle I want while designing (without using any special rulers) and I REALLY love the crisp precision of the final results.
Covering larger, angled sections is often a headache in paper piecing, but this pattern comes with a template to precut your trapezoids so that you have just the right shapes ready.
This was my first time using a wavy stitch for quilting and it definitely won’t be my last. I originally quilted a 1.5″ x 1.5″ grid but something just felt like it was missing. I always love the way Jodie @jozmakesquilts‘ wavy quilting looks. However, I hate committing to a quilting design because I refuse to unpick anything. Whatever I choose, I have to live with. But a pillow is a small enough project that it’s perfect for risking something different so I added a wavy stitch between each straight line in one direction and I LOVE it. I am officially on Team Wavy Stitch. I would say we’re making T-shirts but we’re too busy making quilts.
My Scrappy Fall Version
I’m always most enamored with the most recent project, but this Christmas version was not actually the original Color Jolt pillow. The first was designed on something of a whim as a prize for one of our weekly winners in the 2020 Postcard Swap (#postcardswap2020). I picked a mix of leftover fabric from various Ruby Star Society lines, mixed them with some soft, Peppered Cotton solids, and threw in a few pieces of “who-the-heck-knows-where-this-came-from” fabrics from my scrap bin. I added my favorite Essex linen in as the background fabric and off I went. After the 20th person asked me if this pillow would be available as a pattern, I changed my answer from “Maybe” to “Of course.” So here it is!
I hope you enjoy making this as much as I did. Please tag me in the versions you make! I love seeing what you all come up with.
Happy Sewing!
-Kate