SEWjo Saturday and Accuquilt Clamshell Flower Cushion Cover Tutorial

Even though my blog has been quiet, I have been super busy with projects.  I have been helping my lovely friend Pat Sloan with one project for her upcoming new fabric collection One For You, One For Me ( and it is a BEAUTY!)  and now I am working on some amazing projects for  Sara's booth with Art Gallery Fabrics for her new collection Jungle Avenue.  It has been so much fun sewing everything with these wonderful colors!

A few months ago Accuquilt sent me some new dies to play with and I made the AMAZING Babylove Quilt with the snowball die for a friend.  Included in the set was a clamshell die.  I had been looking at clamshells for so long but have never wanted to sit and cut all of those curved pieces and wanted to see if I could find a new way to use them.  As soon as I saw Sara's fabric THIS flower popped into my head and OUT came the Accuquilt!

This pillow is so incredibly easy, fun and gratifying to make.  It can be a a FAB scrap buster and honestly I think it is a great pillow for teens to try to tackle.  I used the tutorial for the back of the cushion from the tutorial Jaybird Quilts featured on Sew Mama Sew.  BEST envelope pillow tutorial EVER!

I apologize in advance for the horrible photos, it was POURING down rain and honestly these were the best I could take at the time.  I am hoping they will be clear enough for you to be able to follow along.

Please read all the instructions before starting this project.

What you will need
Two 17 in squares of fabric ( one for the front and one for the quilt sandwich so it can be scrap or muslin)
One 17 in piece of batting  ( I used Pellon)
Assorted scrap fabric to make 21 clamshells
One strip of fabric 16.5x2 ( for the center flower
Four pieces of fabric 16.5x11 ( for the backing).  I used four since I lined the pillow.
Two 16.5x2.25in pieces of fabric for binding for the pillow closure binding
Thread ( I used my trusty Aurifil 50wt )
Accuquilt 4in clamshell die or a 4in clamshell template

Fold your fabric square in half both ways to determine your fabric center.

Center the first shell and pin in place.  organize the rest of the shells in a circle. I put just a touch of washable glue stick under each to hold them in place.

Place the top piece of fabric with the shells on top of the batting and backing fabric to make your quilt sandwich. Then sew around the edges of the shells.  

Please note that the shells that overlap need to be sewn down as shown in my really bad drawing below. I found this out the hard way and had some up close and personal time with Jack the Ripper to learn this lesson.

Choose four more clamshells and place them in on top of the previous shells.  Repeat the process of sewing the shells.

 To make the next round,  fold each clamshell in half

 Fold the "tail" up

Then flip over.  The tail flipped up crates a pocket to place the nest petal in.  It add thickness but that is okay since this is a textured project!

Make your circle in the center

Then sew the center about 1/4 inch in and then again in the center.

To make the center, take your 16.5x2 in strip, fold in half, finger press and sew the edge 1/4 inch in from raw edge

Mark with a washable marker every 1/2 inch

cut along those markings

Then cut  in the opposite side to help with spinning the fabric :o)

Pin the outside of the flower center down about 1/2 inch in from the center of the previous round of shells and start sewing ( you can use the shown seam since it will not show).  During this step you may need to stop sewing to adjust the circle.

I will be using a different example here, this one was made with a center not so tight to show what I did without ruffles in the way ;o)

At the very end place the end of the strip where you like and stick a pin dead center ( not through your finger though! I had just picked this one up to show the placement)

gently lay pin in place to keep the center

Tack down into place to just the right ( or left) of  the pin.  Make sure you are not sewing over the pin!

Ta DA!  Lovely texture and COLOR!!!!  Quilt as you like , trim down to 16.5 inches square and then hop on over to Sew Mama Sew to get the best backing instructions from Jaybird Quilts!

I hope you have time to make one of these for someone special ( like yourself)!  If you do make one I would love to see it!  If there are any questions about this tutorial  please send me an email :o)



Let's get our SEWjo (sewing mojo) going!  This link up will be open from Saturday through Monday to give you LOTS of time in case you need to do silly other stuff like make dinner or driving your kids somewhere and then there is always making sure you have good lighting. The things we all have to go through...sigh ;o)

To participate in the party please... 

1. Share a project from this past week or TODAY!!! Link it up from your blog or, if you do not have a blog, your Flickr photos. It can be a  FABULOUS finish or a WIP ( any progress is always good)that you are working hard to get off your sewing table!  

2. Share a link back to SEWjo Saturday somewhere in your post. I would be over the moon if you grabbed the button and shared that too ;o)

3. Share some love with some of the other posters!!!!  Visit some of the linked up photos and get inspired by other quilty friends' work. And please leave some sunshine in their comments! Let's support each other!  

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