chiseled

I wish this post was about my abs, but it is not. My midsection instead resembles the squishiness of this:

I made my first pillow today with the chisel die that I received with my AccuQuilt GO! Baby! I'll admit that my math is rusty though. I had the design all mapped out, then had to improvise in the middle of the process because I thought that the two chisels when sewn together were 12.5 inches tall, not 9.5 inches. Oh well, I added a couple of borders. I'll have another tutorial up later this week on the pillow I'm making from the quarter square die!

Chiseled Pillow Tutorial

Materials:

6 different fabrics, cut into 4" x 12" rectangles (You'll see I have 8 in my photo. Whoops! There was the math issue. You can use 8 fabrics like I did to get more variety, but you'll have 4 spare chisels to use in a different project.)

(2) 2" x 16.5" strips of solid fabric

(2) 12.5" squares of backing fabric
(1) 12.5" x 16.5" rectangle of muslin
12" x 16" pillow form
AccuQuilt GO! Baby and Chisel Die

Instructions:

1. Place three rectangles of fabric, stacked on top of one another, on the chisel die. Make sure to line up the fabric so that it covers the blades completely and that the grain is straight (the blades are set at an angle on the die for easier cutting).

2. Place the cutting mat on top, and roll on through the GO! Baby!

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the other 3 fabrics. (See note 3 at the bottom of this post if you're using all prints for your fabrics. If so, you'll need to lay your second set of fabrics right side down.)

4. You'll have 12 perfect chisel shapes and very little waste!

5. Arrange chisels in your preferred layout and sew together. Sew them up in pairs first (one each from the top and bottom row), then stitch the six pairs together. Trim 1" off of each side so that the panel of chisels measures 9.5" by 16.5".

6. Sew the solid strips to the top and bottom of the pieced chisels to complete the top.

7. On each piece of backing fabric, fold one edge over 1/2 inch and press. Fold over again 1/2 inch and topstitch to create a finished edge.

8. Layer the pieces for final construction in this order: muslin, pillow top (right side up), and overlapping backing pieces (right side down). Pin layers together.

9. Sew around perimeter using a 3/8" seam allowance. Turn right side out, and stuff with your pillow form!

I've mentioned before that my family does not appreciate pillows on our couches. Cooper is already showing his disdain.

I expect it to get munched up by the dogs within a week or two.

Some notes about the above project:

1. It took me less then 5 minutes to cut all of the fabric into their rough rectangles, then less than 5 minutes to run them through the GO! Baby. Definitely a timesaver.

2. The notches in the dies make it super easy to line up the chisels for sewing. It makes piecing much more accurate than if I tried to sew up chisel shapes cut with a rotary tool.

3. One thing that I didn't get when I was first cutting is that the chisels all come out of the die exactly the same. I thought that I would get two chisels that were a mirror image of one another. Of course I looked at the instructions on the die afterwards, and they make that clear. Another whoops for me. It was okay because half of my fabrics were solids, so I could flip them over to make the design work. But if you're using all prints, you need to place half of your fabrics right side down on the dies, and half of them right side up to get six chisels of each orientation. That's the way to make the zig zag setup that I have in my pillow.

Let me know if you have any questions!