DIY: Sewing Up A Sea of Turquoise

The sewing has begun!

Here’s a little look at the sea of turquoise in progress for Kaleigh’s throw pillows, which I wrote about here and here.

I started with the small 19×9 cover first because I had a template to follow from the old pillow cover.

This was my first attempt to sew an invisible zipper into something. So I bought the invisible zipper foot, but then had to figure out how to attach it to my machine.

Source

The directions were a bit sketchy, but they eventually made sense. Who knew this little foot would make life so much easier? That is once I figured out where to place the needle so I didn’t sew too close to the zipper!

If you look closely you can see the zipper foot in action here.

And I couldn’t have done this without the internet. I printed out step-by-step instructions on how to install an invisible zipper… 3 different sets of instructions! In the end I used this tutorial by Colette Patterns along with a few extra tips from my trusty old Reader’s Digest Guide to Sewing book!

These instructions didn’t leave my side!

And I referred to them often!

But they worked well and got me to here.

I was pretty happy at this point 🙂

After the first pillow was finished I decide to create an assembly line for the last 4 from this fabric. You see, you have to change the presser foot at different stages of the sewing, and I found this to be a pain. I wasn’t buying into the practice makes perfect approach!

Here’s a look at the assembly line.

And the beads of sweat…

Sewing with intense concentration… and a few minor conflicts between Janome and me!

I’ll admit, I had to pick out one side of a zipper, and a few minor casualty spots on two others, but in the end it wasn’t that bad.

Here’s a look at the first pillow.

And here’s a look at the collection of pillows all finished up!

Have you tackled your own throw pillows? What tips and tricks do you have to share?

Thanks for stopping by!

Photographs by Sheila Zeller. Please link and credit if you choose to use!