'Misplaced Steps' Square Pillow: Oakshott 'Rio' fabrics

Lynne contacted a few UK bloggers with an Oakshott colourshott challenge a few weeks back- 1st hurdle was to call dibs on your colour way of choice: imagine a virtual jumble sale of pointy elbow emails as we each frantically emailed back to Lynne with our selection whilst going to work, dropping off children etc.   I chose 'Rio', a blues/orange fat eight pack. 

We each needed to devise a pattern to be shared on our blogs and could also be used as part of the pack so that you could buy the bundle and have an item in mind to make.  I wanted something with strips and I am a Courthouse Steps fan so this is what I came up with, 'Misplaced Steps' square pillow cover.

This is one of the Courthouse Steps blocks in isolation.  

Finished Size= 20 ¼" square

Materials Required:

Oakshott Colourshotts Fat Eighth Pack in 'Rio'

Backing – 1/2 metre Colourshotts COTX53 Baja Blue for pillow envelope back

Batting/wadding or fusible fleece (I used Vilene Quiltex) – 22” square for pillow front, two rectangles each measuring 16” x 22” for pillow envelope back

Pillow pad 20” square, or 22”  square for fuller pillow.

Things to remember:

Use scant ¼” seam

Seams are pressed to the side unless stated otherwise

Cut across width of fabric (WOF). The fabric selvedge will be vertical

TIP: Prewash, then starch and press the fat eights before cutting using a gentle, plant based, non aerosol spray starch e.g. Earth Friendly, Astonish or Flatter. This helps to make more accurate blocks.

1. Cutting: Follow the table below:

Fabric A (COTX33 Bergamo) Beige Cut two WOF 1 ¼” wide strip. From this cut: nine 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” squares, one 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangle, one 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangle,  Cut two WOF 2 ¼” wide strips for binding back panels. Trim to 20 ¾” in length.	Fabric B (COTX34 Sandstone) Cream Cut three WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: five 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, four 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangles, two 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles, four 1 ¼” x 7 ¼” rectangles
Fabric C (COTX37 Sunshine) Gold Cut four WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: three 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, four 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangles, six 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles, six 1 ¼” x 7 ¼” rectangles	Fabric D (03 Nectarine) orange Cut four WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: five 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, five 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangles, four 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles,  three 1 ¼” x 7 ¼” rectangles
Fabric E (COTX05 Campion) Rust Cut four WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: five 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, four 1 ¼” x 4 ¼”rectangles, five 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles, five 1 ¼” x 7 ¼” rectangles	Fabric F (COX53 Baja Blue) Light Blue Cut five WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: eight 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” squares, eight 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, seven 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangles,  eight 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles From the extra fabric for the pillow back, cut two rectangles 16” x 22”
Fabric G (COTX17 Timor) Mid Blue Cut four WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: four 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” squares, four 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, five 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangles, three 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles	Fabric H (COTX16 Banda) Dark Blue Cut four WOF 1 ¼” wide strips. From these cut: six 1 ¼” x 1 ¼” squares, six 1 ¼” x 2 ¾” rectangles, five 1 ¼” x 4 ¼” rectangles, six 1 ¼” x 5 ¾” rectangles

 

Colour Diagram:

Block Measurements Diagram:

 

2. Assembly

There are nine Courthouse steps blocks in this pillow cover and it is constructed in three rows of three. Use the colour and Measurement diagrams to match the colours and fabric pieces to each block. Start with block one (top left corner) arrange all the pieces and colours needed for this block following the layout and colours in the diagrams before you start sewing.

i. To make a Courthouse steps block, start with the centre square. With right sides together, sew one blue colour square to the top edge of the centre square. Press blue square away from the centre square. Continue following the Construction diagram and referring to the Colour and Measurement diagrams for size and colour of square/rectangle. The block should measure 7 ¼” square unfinished.

ii. Repeat following the diagrams until there are 9 blocks. Arrange the blocks into three rows of three. Join blocks to make three rows. Join rows.

3. Quilting and Finishing

i. Baste or fuse batting/fleece to pillow front and back pieces. Quilt as desired; diagonal lines are effective on this design. Trim and square edges. Front should measure 20 ¾” square, back pieces each measure 15” x 20 ¾”.

ii. Fold binding strip in half along length, press. Use to bind back pieces by sewing folded binding strip to right side of back using ¼” seam: the strip raw edges line up with back piece raw edge. Turn binding folded edge to wrong side of back piece and stitch in place by machine or by hand. Place back pieces and pillow front right sides together; the back pieces will overlap. Stitch around the pillow edges with 1/4” seam. Press seam and turn through. Press and insert pad!

I kept the quilting simple with diagonal lines in Aurifil 28wt on the top thread and 50wt on the spool.

'Rio' and colour themed fat eighth packs will be available from Oakshott Fabrics at the Festival of Quilts.  Are you going? I am undecided at the moment as I will be working that week but I haven't been before and I do fancy it so maybe a Saturday trip is in order?  Please share any experiences below!

Here is the full schedule of all the blogs on the bloghop:

31 June:  Jo from My Bearpaw

1 July:     Kerry from Very Kerry Berry

3 July:     Nicky from Mrs Sew And Sow

4 July:     Helen from Archie The Wonder Dog

7  July:    Sonia from Fabric And Flowers

8 July:     Charlotte from Displacement Activity

10 July:   Trudi from Trudi-Quilting Prolifically

11 July:   Susan Claire from Gourmet Quilter

And if you would like the button, Lynne has prepared one,  paste the details below!

<div align="center">
<a href="http://lilysquilts.blogspot.co.uk" title="Lily's Quilts"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZyOBY44-mLo9WUY_revjdpLXkqhqqTXETPvoqSseiNS0C0XzGt_cPUDDNei0JzhGrdvB39k8mRjKPRUMpTMP4MuZEIwlaL6EZ6B_ThF15g7t6k9aKRa7o4vcxXtk8_F8SoTOueWtGUK0/s1600/oakshott+button.jpg" alt="Lily's Quilts" style="border:none;" /></a></div>