A different kind of stamping project

I recently made a new quilt for my bedroom and got inspired by this piece of patterned paper to make some pillows to match.

(If you're thinking, "Leigh, this is a scrapbooking blog, why are you sharing a sewing project?", it's because I used a Red Star Stamp to make my pillows, and I love finding ways to repurpose my scrappy materials (& sharing about them!))

Here's what I did:

I ironed out some of the leftover scraps from my quilt and ironed some interfacing to the wrong side of them.



Then, I used some ink (which, in retrospect, I should have used something non-watersoluable, in case I ever want to wash the pillow cases), my stamping block and my leaf Red Star Stamp (this set would work, too.)



I stamped the leaf onto the right side of the fabric. And repeated this step many, many times, using four different patterns of fabric.



Then I cut them all out.



And arranged them on a square of fabric, that would become the front of my pillow. (The square was 17"x17" so that when sewed together, it would fit my 16" pillow forms.)



And pinned them in place.

With some brown fabric, I turned the edges under and slipped them in between the clusters of leaves, to create the branches and the trunk of the tree. Then, with brown thread, I sewed the branches, trunk and leaves (down the centre vein of the stamp) in place.

Then I repeated these steps and made a second pillow, a mirrow image from the first, with a few different details. I sewed them into pillows and am quite happy with the results.