Okay, speed your way through that tongue twister a few times!
Back in January I tackled a few languishing UFOs in a rare fit of post-holiday productivity. Among the unfinished projects, a portrait of my mother from her Lauren Bacall look-alike days and a decorative pillow for her featuring pears, one of her favorite motifs. (I used Darra’s clever quilted postcard method to create the portrait.)
As it turned out, my sister hijacked the pear pillow because it suited her home design better. No worries there, my mother has admitted that she can’t possibly fit another inedible pear in her house—juicy ones fresh off a tree are welcome though. My sister Patti required that I make another pear pillow because, apparently, pillows should be bestowed in matched sets.
The first pillow I made for my mother. The background fabric is a heavy cream-colored linen.
Pear Pillow How-To’s
So here you go, a simple and quick decorative pear pillow project told in photos. All you need is a pear photo (copy mine if you like), pear and leaf-green fabric scraps, silk or polyester organza scraps, fusible web, and beads. Choose your pillow size and work from there—I enlarged my pear image from 9 to about 16 inches and built a pillow to suit the larger pear dimensions.
Jennifer’s Bartlett pear.
Supplies I used–pear and leaf-green fabrics, iridescent silk organza, linen, Japanese seed beads.
Refer to my holiday pillow pattern in the FREE Pattern library if you want instructions for an easy-to-build envelope pillow.
♦ Enlarge your pear photo to suit your design. Cut out the pattern.
♦ Create the pear fabric by sewing together fabric strips. Use the enlarged pattern to cut out the pear unit from the stripped fabric.
Pear-green strip set.
Pin the enlarged pear pattern to the pear fabric.
Optional: Affix the fusible web material to the organza. Trace the shadows falling on the pear’s surface onto the fused organza. Cut away the excess fabric, arrange the organza on the pear fabric as desired and fuse.
♦ Center the cut-out pear on your background fabric. Pin to secure and outline the pear with stitches–use a sewing machine or stitch by hand. Add beaded details as desired.
♦ Oh yes, that leaf: trace a leaf pattern on green fabric prepped with fusible webbing. Fuse to pillow background and stitch the leaf’s outline and veining detail.
Half-finished pear with fused organza shadowing.
Presto! A decorative motif for pillow décor. (Second time’s the charm: I like this version better.)
Be “fruitful” and may your finished projects multiply!
