Sewing: Pieced Leather Pillow

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I made a pillow today. I’ve had this idea rolling around in my head since I made leather bows out of this horribly tacky leather. It looked SO INCREDIBLY TACKY in store, but it was 99¢ a square foot (ridiculously cheap for leather) and I couldn’t help but think something cool could come from it. Something.

Then Celeste was telling me about her plans for her master bedroom ideas to incorporate purple. It’s really a lovely color that gets the boot all too often for it’s bad rep of being a tween girl color. It can be so much more than that.

So I made her a pillow. I couldn’t resist, and I think it turned out lovely. The pictures show the leather being more blue than it actually looks like. I’m hoping it’ll work for her decor.

I used a pre-quilted broadcloth (similar) I found in my mom’s stash of sewing goodies she gave me a few years ago. It has a natural feel to it with little flecks of fibers here and there. I’m not sure what my mom had originally planned for the fabric, but it works perfectly for this purpose. I cut out the quilted broadcloth and leather, then made a straight cut around the 3/4 mark on the front piece and that’s where I added the two strips. I made the gold strip smaller than the purple one to balance out the glam and natural details. I used a leather needle here, but since I was sewing the leather to fabric, I didn’t use my walking foot. I just made sure to sew leather-side-down when attaching pieces together.

I topstitched the fabric side of the piecing to give it a crisp look, but felt no need to do that on the leather sides. I did press the leather, which makes it look really sharp. When pressing leather, you’ll want to cover with a pressing cloth (cotton sheet works fine) with the iron on med-high with low steam.

This kind of project is perfect for small leather scraps. Instead of piecing, you could applique! Leather edges don’t need to be finished. Have you ever pieced with leather before?

Here are some great envelope pillow tutorials: Envelope PillowHidden Zipper Pillow

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  1. Lindsay says:

    This is a fabulous pillow! I don’t care for purple usually, but I like it in accents like this. It looks so professional with the quilting, too.

  2. David Preston says:

    LOVE IT!

  3. Erin R. says:

    Love it!

  4. […] my previous color block projects to get your creative juices flowing: color block wiggle skirt • color block leather pillow • color block v-neck tee • color block bib necklace • color block maternity/nursing […]

  5. […] other color-blocking tutorials: color block wiggle skirt • color block leather pillow • color block v-neck tee • color block bib necklace • color block maternity/nursing […]

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