Loving it! Fantasia by Sara Lawson for Art Gallery Fabrics

Even though I’m a grown woman – I have a confession. I like unicorns. My inner child still gets a kick out of them… and My Little Pony, Hello Kitty, and other icons of 80s girls.

Several months ago, Sara Lawson of Sew Sweetness announced the upcoming release of her new Art Gallery Fabrics line Fantasia. The designs are based on Sara’s favorite childhood cartoon film, and they are so whimsical – yet elegant at the same time.

I was just dying over the amazing unicorn prints, so when Sara put out a call for bloggers to sew something out of her fabric I immediately asked to participate. Days later – I received a yard each of three different prints – Monokeros Stripe Candy, Miniature Hills Dew, and Unicorn Fable Sageplant.

What I love about the Fantasia line is that it’s feminine without being too juvenile. It’s sophisticated enough to use in home décor. So that’s what I chose to focus on: making pillow covers.

This may sound odd, but I had actually never sewn pillow covers before. I’ve made quilts, bags, stuffed animals, and lots of other things – but for whatever reason I just hadn’t done this item before. It was definitely long overdue.

For the larger pillow, I started with Ikea’s Fjadrar 20-inch duck feather filled inner cushion. It is only $5.99. Yes, you read that right – under six dollars! Ikea also carries a 16 X 26 inch version for $6.99 and a 26 X 26 inch version for $9.99. Best prices I’ve seen for real down pillows.

It was fairly easy to make, but took about six hours total of my time. I quilted the front and back after cutting out 20-inch square (exterior and lining) fabrics and batting. On the front, I didn’t want just one solid piece of fabric, so I broke it up by adding light gray triangles (10.5 inch square cut diagonally) on two corners to give the print some movement.

For the back, I envisioned a pretty gold exposed zipper. Construction started off almost like making a zipper pouch. A tip I learned recently is to sew on the exterior and lining fabrics to the zipper, and then insert the batting afterward and quilt all of the layers. That eliminates a bulkier seam right at the zipper.

Once both the front and back of the pillow cover were quilted, I trimmed them down to 19-inch squares and bound them together with the Monokeros Stripe Candy print. Isn’t it perfect for binding? With down/feather inserts – it’s recommended to make the covers up to 2 inches smaller than the insert size. Because the one I used was 20 inches, the cover ended up at 18.5 inches – taking the binding into account.

This pillow cover actually has two totally different looks just by flipping it over.

For the second pillow cover – I went with a bolster cushion. I used an online tutorial I found to do this, but didn’t add any piping. The size of the insert is 6 inches in diameter and 20 inches long.

I really wanted to find a way to line this cover, but couldn’t figure it out so I used a serger-like stitch on my Janome Horizon 7700 QCP (#14) to reinforce all the stitching so it could be machine washed.

This bolster pillow cover only took about an hour and a half from start to finish and actually turned out cute, if I don’t say so myself! If I had to do this over again, I would have fused Pellon SF101 interfacing to the fabric for stability.

I’m relatively new to using Art Gallery Fabrics. The company slogan is “feel the difference” and I can honestly say that is true. The weave is fine, and each fabric feels rather silky to the touch. While I haven’t had the opportunity to launder it yet, I suspect that when I do – it will be fairly pill resistant and hold up well over time.

Without question, this is my favorite new designer line of 2015 so far. Each and every print is fabulous! The quilting cottons are 100 percent PIMA cotton, and select prints are available in voile and knits. While looking for accent and lining pieces, I also noticed that the Fantasia line coordinated well with many of the fabrics I already owned.

I’ve got some scraps leftover, and am trying to scheme up ways to use them. Fantasia by Sara Lawson for Art Gallery Fabrics will be coming soon later this month!

See you next time!

– Jennifer