By Thomas Knauer, Thomas Knauer Sews
Everyone has scraps; it’s one of the many hazards of our fabric habit. I have to believe that my current scrap stash is verging on legendary proportions, thanks to my recent No-Repeat Scrap Vomit quilt project. What started out as a wish-list project quickly became a reality when 100+ quilters around the world sent me more than 5,000 2.5″ squares and scraps of assorted sizes. (You can read more about this cool project on my blog.)
Now I didn’t want to be wasteful with those scraps, so I cut out as many squares as I could from each of them, and of course I received quite a few multiples in all those envelopes and packages. So, all these orphan squares need to find a home, which got me thinking, and thinking usually leads me to pillows. (I love pillows!!!)
Armed with a few handfuls of squares, I went up to the studio and started working, which usually means staring out the window and thinking. More thinking. More thinking. Idea. What could be more natural for a lot of 2.5″ squares than circles, right? Exactly. Time for the sewing machine.
I am normally a planner, but my quick sketch just felt lifeless to me (and by sketch I mean 10 minutes in Illustrator).
Time for another natural fit. How about I hand-draw my circles? (Trust me, that’s almost as natural a fit as using lots of 2.5″ squares to make circles.) Hence the Drunken Circles pillow:
I love the the negative space play created by my inability to draw a decent circle. (So much of my life as an artist has been based on taking advantage of my own ineptitude.) Personally I like to think of these circles as having Cézanne edges.
So, here’s what you’ll need.
1/2 yard of neutral linen/cotton blend.
44 blue 2.5″ squares
28 red 2.5″ squares
4 yellow 2.5″ squares
Step One: Cut out a 16.5″ square. This is the bottom piece of the top; you will be appliqueing all the circles to this.
Step Two: Piece together all of your blue squares like this:
Step Three: Sketch a circle onto the pieced-together blue squares. Don’t worry about being too precise, but make sure you get all the way to the edges. You want your circle-oid to be 16″ in diameter. Fold over the edges of the circle and top stitch it to the backing piece of linen.
Step Four: Cut a 14″ circle (roughly drawn) out of your neutral linen/cotton. Turn the edges and top stitch it in the center of the blue circle.
Step Five: Piece together all of your red squares like this:
Step Six: Sketch a circle onto the pieced-together red squares; just like with your blue squares. This circle should end up 10″ in diameter. Turn the edges and top stitch to the center of the linen/cotton circle.
Step Seven: Cut a 7″ circle (again roughly drawn) out of your cotton/linen. Turn the edges and top stitch it to the center of the red circle.
Step Eight: Piece together your 4 yellow squares and cut a 4″ circle out of it. Turn the edges and top stitch it to the center of the linen/cotton circle.
Step Nine: Use your favorite pillow enclosure method to complete the pillow. I love using a simple envelope slipcover method.
(Editors’ Note: Here are shortcuts to three tutorials on this pillow cover technique:
Freshly Picked Pillow Tutorial: Envelope Back
Cluck Cluck Sew Tutorial: Scrap Buster Fall Pillow
Apartment Therapy: How To Sew An Envelope Back Pillow.)
Voila!!! You’re done. Best thing about Drunken Circles is that it is almost impossible to mess up. It is a totally low-key pillow that just gets better when you send your inner perfectionist off for a cup of tea.
And now for the Challenge
Would you like a chance to follow Thomas’ lead and wallow around in scraps, with the only directive being that you use a certain number of different pieces to create something wonderful? (What’s that you say…you do this every day?)
Then play along in the Scrap Splat Challenge, some joint fun-and-games that Generation Q is holding in collaboration with Thomas Knauer, and let’s see what amazing-ness will emerge!
Scrap Splat will work like this:
So, if you can’t resist a challenge (plus free scraps), sign up to be eligible for participating in the Scrap Splat! You know you want to.
© 2015 Generation Q Magazine. Site by Spunmonkey.
COMMENT #1
I would love to play in this !
COMMENT #2
Pick me, pick me! Thomas, you won’t even have to spend money on postage!
COMMENT #3
I wanna play!!!
COMMENT #4
What a clever way to use scraps! I love scrappiness and would like to join in the fun!
COMMENT #5
Sounds like tons of fun! Can we add our own scraps, too?
COMMENT #6
I’d love to do a scrap project.
COMMENT #7
Utterly, absolutely unable to resist a challenge. Sign me up!
COMMENT #8
Can i play please? I promise I’ll play nice too….
COMMENT #9
I would love to play with new scraps.
COMMENT #10
OH MY HECK!!! Thomas … pick me!!! I would love to play this… I can even bribe if needed 🙂 lol.
COMMENT #11
I would love to participate–this sounds like fun!
COMMENT #12
I REALLY want to play. I have been out of sewing for a bit and would love to try this challenge as a way to renew my passion for creating and having fun doing something I have always loved.
COMMENT #13
I wanna play!! 🙂
COMMENT #14
I have only been quilting a year and would love the opportunity to be “interactive”!
Thanks,
Ann
COMMENT #15
I’m in and I wanna play!
COMMENT #16
I wanna play – this is right up my alley and looks like tons o’ fun!
COMMENT #17
Okay I’m in!
COMMENT #18
This project is so fun and goes along with the nights I need a large glass of red wine with my fabric habit. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. I wanna play!
COMMENT #19
This sounds like fun and, oh, do I ever have a boatload of scraps!
COMMENT #20
I wanna play!!!
COMMENT #21
Will play.
COMMENT #22
I wanna play
COMMENT #23
the idea wheels are already turning – it’s a bumpy ride since they’re not so round, but that’s ok 🙂
Can I play?
COMMENT #24
Oh how fun! I would love to play!
COMMENT #25
Would love to play!
COMMENT #26
I wanna play! I’m always up for a sewing challenge!
COMMENT #27
I hope I’m not too late! I want to play, too. And I even play well with others.
COMMENT #28
I wanna play!
COMMENT #29
I wanna play…sounds like fun!
COMMENT #30
It sounds like oodles of fun! I want to play!!
COMMENT #31
Ooh! Splat for me usually means splats of baby food on the floor– this is the kind of splat I prefer!
COMMENT #32
Sounds fun-count me in!
COMMENT #33
Sign me up Scotty!!! (or I guess, Tommy!)
COMMENT #34
I’m definitely in! Sounds like a blast!
COMMENT #35
Sounds like fun -I would love to play!!
COMMENT #36
I would love to play!! 🙂
COMMENT #37
I’m in. While I pack and move my mom’s NY home to Fl and mine from PA. But I can’t resist 🙂
COMMENT #38
Oh, I think my momma taught me how to play nice. May I try?
COMMENT #39
ooooh! Pick me! Pick me! I wanna play!
COMMENT #40
I would love to play! I am a scrap hoarder and love to use them in quilts!
COMMENT #41
I love scrappy projects!
COMMENT #42
Oh, I love me some scraps…
COMMENT #43
I wanna play! (as if I don’t have enough scraps of my own, but I LOVE different fabrics!) please?!
COMMENT #44
I’ll play! But you truly don’t have to send me scraps — I’m literally wading in them. But if you insist . . .
COMMENT #45
OK, I admit it…I wanna play too!