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Make a Cool Ultrasuede Applique Pillow Top

Mary Ray, contributor

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Try using Ultrasuede for appliqué with this 9-patch-circle pillow. "Nine-patch" is quilting lingo for 9 patches per block..

Mary Ray

Here's what you'll need. Once you've set up all of your supplies, you’re ready to go.

Mary Ray

Keep the fusible web easy to manage by cutting it in circles a bit smaller than the ones that you cut from the fabric.

Mary Ray

Try using Ultrasuede for appliqué with this 9-patch-circle pillow. "Nine-patch" is quilting lingo for 9 patches per block..

Photo: Mary Ray

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If you've never sewn with Ultrasuede before, this is the project for you: a wonderful pillow top with Ultrasuede appliqué. This versatile fabric is used a lot in furniture nowadays—back in the '80s, it was very popular for clothes—and it’s great for accessories, too. I like the look of the circles, and they are a popular design motif nowadays, but they’re a real pain to do if you have to turn in the raw edges, so the fuse and sew technique is perfect.

What you’ll need:

A Circle Template (I used a professional template I bought at the office-supply store)
Pencil
A sharp pair of scissors
Some fusible web*
A sewing machine
An iron
Some Ultrasuede fabric (1/2 yard for the back and main front piece and 1/8-yard pieces or scraps for the circles)

Click here for places to buy Ultrasuede.

You might be able to find resources for Ultrasuede scraps on eBay. (I did see scraps for sale in the Bohemian Element booth when I was at the Quilt Festival in Houston. You'll have to go to their Web site to check out their show schedule as they do not sell Ultrasuede via the Web site and they do not have a retail stor

To Make the Pillow Top:

1. Trace the circles on the back of the fabric.
2. Cut them out with sharp scissors.
3. Arrange them on a square of fabric large enough for the pillow top or the center of the top as I did; you can add borders later to frame it.
4. Cut large and small circles out of the fusible web*, too, that are just a little smaller than the fabric circles.
5. Fuse the larger circles in place. Fuse the smaller circles on top of those, and with a straight stitch, sew them all in place.
6. Stitch each circle close to the outer edge. Use a standard stitch length—not too long—about 2.5mm, and use the inner edge of your straight-stitch presser foot as a guide. When you’re sewing around a circle, you need to raise the presser foot occasionally (maybe every couple of stitches, depending on the size of the circle) and pivot the fabric slightly. Be sure the needle is down when you do this.
7. Tie off the threads in the back. What could be easier?

*What’s fusible web?
It’s a mesh-like product that you place between your fabric layers. Then you press that fabric sandwich with an iron to stick the layers together. There are a few different products you can use: Wonder Under by Pellon, Misty Fuse, and Steam-a-Seam. There are spray-on products, too, such as 06 Spray and BoNash, which is a powered bonding agent. I haven’t tried either of them.

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