Mitered Stripe Pillow Tutorial

I know some of you aren't feeling the spring weather yet, but here in California we have had some really nice spring days.  Spring always brings out a certain excitement within me.  It means warmer days are ahead.  So I've been sprucing up the garden and preparing for the long warm days I enjoy so much.  One of the things I'm re-doing is my outdoor pillows and cushions.  I usually change them out every year because I get bored and restless with them.  Last years colors were browns and greens, this years colors are whites and blues.

I popped in a local thrift store the other day and found 3 of these fabric samples for 25 cents each.  Heck with the fabric only costing .75 cents I can switch my pillows out often.

I knew instantly that I would use these striped fabric samples to make a mitered pillow.  I'm sure you guys have all seen pictures of these in magazines and catalogs.  So here's a tutorial for mitered stripe pillows.

First you have to decide on the size you want your pillow.  I decided to make my pillow 20"x20"

I made my pattern from some brown craft paper, you might want to use wax paper or parchment paper.  Any paper that you can see through.  Simply tape a few sheets together.
On your pattern paper using a ruler, draw a square the finished size of your pillow.  Now add 1/2" seam allowance around your pillow.  Next draw 2 lines diagonally from corner to corner.  This should give you 4 triangles.  We're going to focus on just one of these triangles to use as our pattern.

Once you have your 4 triangles like the diagram above, add 1/2" seam allowance to the outside edge of your triangle pattern.  Cut this triangle out along the red cutting line, it is the only pattern piece you will need.  You can discard the rest of the drawing.
Lay your pattern piece on your striped fabric until you have the stripes you want featured.  Keep in mind that your seams will take up 1/2" and plan your stripes accordingly.

Since I could see through my paper, it made lining up the stripes straight really easy.  If you need to, trace the stripes of your fabric onto your pattern to help unsure you cut all 4 triangles out with the stripes landing in the exact same place on your pattern piece.  Cut 4 triangles.

 Once you have all 4 triangles cut out, lay one on top of the other lining the stripes up exactly.

I place pins right at the stripes to keep the fabric from shifting on me as I stitch it.

Stitch carefully keeping the stripes aligned.

Repeat this step with the other 2 triangles.  While I'm still at the sewing machine, I always open out my fabric to check and make sure the stripes stayed lined up.

Now you should have 2 large triangles.  Press the seams open and pin these two triangles together matching the stripes again.

Stitch carefully making sure everything lines up nicely.  Mine did not line up perfectly the first time as the picture below shows.

So I took out a few inches of stitching and gave it a second try.  When you have all the stripes lined up, press this seam open as well.

Your pillow front is ready for you to finish constructing the rest of the pillow.  You can find instructions for finishing the pillow here.
Here's what mine turned out like.

I decided to add a covered button to the middle of mine.

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