DIY Four Leaf Pillow Cover

I first ran across this pattern last year at GoToSew.com.  I hadn't used it though.  It sat quietly in the far reaches of my Documents folder.  Until I had to look at my sofa for a few days with it's cute, but lonely looking pillows that I recently made other covers for.  I had the leaf template, but didn't have the details so I headed to the original creator's, Mmmcrafts, page.

An aside: I did not follow all pattern instructions.  I've had some difficulty in the past finding piping for projects.  I've still not found a good place to buy it.  Which I am bummed about because the finished photos of pillows with piping are so cute!  Also I've not used glue on my fabric projects before so I did without that as well.

What you'll need:

An existing pillow or purchase a new pillow insert (18")
A yard of cotton fabric for background and envelope back
Scraps of cotton fabric for applique
Fabric pencil or disappearing marker
Leaf applique template
Notions (thread, pins, scissors, etc.)

Wash and dry fabric, then iron.  Measure and then cut one 19" square for background and two 19" x 15" pieces for envelope back.

Along the long side of one envelope back piece press 1/2" toward the wrong side.  Then tuck 1/4" of that under, pin, and sew.  Repeat on second back piece.  I used a heavier decor fabric and this was not fun.  I will use a lighter fabric on the next covers I make.

Each leaf needs two 3.5" x 10.5" pieces of fabric. Eight pieces in total per cover.  I used patterned fabric, but you can also use solid contrasting fabrics.

Sew 1/4" seam along the long edge of two pieces, right sides facing.  Press seams open.

Line the points of the template along the seam on the right side of fabric.  Trace the leaf template and mark a dot in the hole on the template so you know which end to put toward the inside.  Then cut out leaf!

I took the square 19" background piece folded it corner to corner, pressed, then folded the other corner to corner and pressed to make a nice X across the background fabric.

Here's where I didn't use glue...  align the leaves (hole/dot side in!) along the lines and pin in place. Press.

I chose to do a straight top stitch before sewing along the edge with a zig zag stitch starting at a point, but you can do whatever stitch you like!  Larissa (original pattern designer) had some great advice to help the zig zag look cleaner.  Make sure when turning corners that the needle is on the OUTSIDE edge of the leaf.  It makes it look so much better!

Next lay the leaf side right side up.  Place one half of the envelope back right side down lined up along the top edge.  Then place the other half of the envelope back making sure to line up along the bottom edge.  Pin in place.

I sewed, starting at the seam of one of the back pieces, with a 1/2" allowance all the way around.  I backstitched over all edges of the back pieces just to give them a little reinforcement.  Cut the seam allowance to 1/4" and clip the corners.

Turn right side out and push out the corners.  Done!

Front

Back

The original tutorial is easy to read and follow and I think that helped.  I finished this in just a few hours.  Probably could have done it quicker if I weren't chasing a toddler around. I can't wait to make a few more using different fabrics!