Quillow Tutorial

It's a quilt.  It's a pillow.  It's a quilt that folds in to a pillow.  It's a quillow!

This tutorial promises to show you just how easy this is to make, especially if you already make quilts and other blankets.  It is also suitable for the beginner but please be patient with yourself, as this is a lengthy project.  When sewing, please remove pins before they arrive at the needle.  Sewing through a pin can cause your needle to break.  Since this has the potential to create bodily harm should it fly off, it is safe practice to remove all pins prior to their arrival at the needle.

To begin, you will need the following:

• Cotton Thread
• Fabric
• Cut 11 18"x18" squares (front & pocket)
• 60"x60" (back panel)
• Pearl Cotton No. 8
• Sewing Machine
• Twin Size Batting (72"x90")
• Straight Pins
• Curved Safety Pins
• Curved Sewing Needle

You can chose the style of quilt, or leave your squares 18"x18".  This tutorial uses rectangles cut 18"x5".  Each block is made with 4 rectangles.  The placement of the blocks varies the vertical and horizontal alignment.  There's no wrong method.  Be sure to reserve two blocks as your "pillow case" (For the casing, I used solid pieces of fabric and quilted batting to them.)

Before you assemble your quillow, it's important to quilt the 18"x18" squares of batting to the pillow case 18"x18" fabric squares.  

Lay out your squares as they will appear in the blanket (there should be a total of 9).

Next take your two 18"x18" squares that are to be your pillow case.  Lay each face down next to one another.  Lay batting on to the wrong-sides.  Pin and quilt as desired.

Pin right sides together.  Pinning ensures your fabrics won't shift.

Iron seams down.  It's not necessary to iron open and flat because when you cross the rows horizontally and vertically, they lock together.  Likewise, it is not necessary to backstitch at this point because you will go over the stitches as you attach pieces together.

Once your individual blocks and pillow case blocks are assembled, it is time to sew your three rows.  When sewing the center row vertically, be sure the top squares is one of your pillow case squares.  Remember, your quillow tucks nicely into its own pillow case and assembly at this juncture is key.  The top square of the center row becomes one side of this pillow case.  Although it isn't a great photo of it, the top right square in the photo below shows a solid piece of fabric (and you can sort of see batting hanging out below it).

This photo is another example of laying your blocks out. 

Once all three rows are assembled, set them aside to finish your pillow case.  For this, you will use your second side of the case + the final square of the quilt.  Place right sides together and sew along the bottom edge.  Press right sides together and stitch near edge to help fabric lay down and together.

Now you are ready to tack the two pieces together.  This also helps to reinforce the corners, which will be under added stress each time the blanket folds into its case.  I went over my stitches 4 times for extra durability.

At this point, it's okay to trim away any excess batting before you begin to sew the rows together.  When sewing the rows, take great care that the thread catches all the layers of the pillow case (5 total- 3 fabric, 2 batting).  In my case, I pinned the pillow case to prevent it from shifting before I pinned the other row to it.

Take note of the multitude of pins, and that they aren't all at the surface.  Use great care when machine sewing.

Once your quilt top is complete, you are ready to assemble your back and front together.  To do so, lay the backside of your quilt right side down.  Next, lay your batting on top.  Be sure to smooth out the batting.  Finally, lay your quilt top right side up, again, ensuring the pieces lays smooth.  Cut away excess batting.

I had left over batting from a previous project, but ideally, you would use this excess from the batting above as your batting for the pillow case.  When you cut away the extra batting, use caution to not cut through your back fabric.

As you can see, there is much excess of the back fabric on one side, and little on the others.  This is not a problem, as I intend to remove all but one inch, all the way around.

Using curved pins, pin your piece together to ensure it stays put.  Regular safety pins work as well but are harder to manipulate in large pieces such as this.

Mark a line on the backside of the backing, one inch away from the edge of the quilt front.  I used a permanent marker but fabric pens/wax/chalk, etc all work.  Cut along the line or dots.

When you've finished cutting, it should look like this.  You are now ready to bind your quilt.  I find this to be easier than sewing right sides together and then flipping out.  It gives it a nice finished edge with less work.  It does, however, require plenty of pins.  You will pin every 2-3 inches, so be sure to have enough on hand.

To begin binding, fold the edge fabric in half so the raw edge lines up with the edge of the front fabric.  Fold in half again, overlapping the front fabric.

When you come to the corners, create a triangle that lines up with the edge of the front fabric.  Continue with the folds as before.  Your corner should line up evenly, as long as you've cut the back fabric to the same measurement all the way around.

If you don't have your pins close enough together, the fabric will buckle, making it difficult to sew.

Now that the entire piece has been pinned, you are ready to stitch the binding.  

(As a side note, when I made this the first time, parts of my pillow case did not get picked up in the binding.  Ensure that all layers of your pillow case have been encased in the binding before sewing.)

I chose to sew my binding at the 1/8" line from the inside edge.  Feel free to stitch the binding there and 1/8" from the outer edge as well.  This is a decorative touch, and a personal preference.

Now that you have finished your binding, you are ready to fold your quilt into its pillow case.  Follow the photographs below for a demonstration.

Not shown in these photos, the final step was to tie the blanket.  When you tie the layers together, it ensure it will last through years of love (and abuse).  I tied each corner, and the center of each square with the exception of the pillow.  For this, I used White Pearl Cotton Thread No. 8, and a curved needle.  I tied an X into each one using a standard knot.  

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial.  When your Quillow is complete, please share a photo!  We appreciate feedback.  Feel free to email, or visit our website.  You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest.  Until next time, Happy Crafting!