Seagull Drop Cloth Pillow

I found this seagull quilt block pattern on Etsy by Nadia Ridgeway of ellisandhiggs.com

When I printed the purchased pattern download and saw the bazillion little fabric pieces I would need to cut, I had the idea to change it into a paper piecing pattern...which I did.

A ways back in time, Selina of Selina Quilts blog, sent me a drop cloth.  She had made a tote and it inspired me to make something with it (that did not happen.....yet).  Last week I pulled out the drop cloth to try it out as a base fabric for a pillow.

I found a great little strip of selvedge dots in my selvedge stash to add into the sand.

Now it was time to begin the pillow cover construction.  I started with putting the zipper in the back piece(s).  The cloth can wiggle some, but it was the raveling that just about ended it for me.  I wasn’t even sure I would finish making the pillow cover.  But as I worked, I learned that as soon as I cut a piece or strip to sew, I immediately took it to the serger and serged all the edges.  Once I did that it was great to sew with.

It has a great texture for the pillow and a more organic look to it than if it were made completely from cotton quilting fabrics.  There are interesting imperfections that appear occasionally throughout the cloth.  I added another selvedge strip to the back for interest.  The fabric the selvedge came from was called World Maps.  Seagulls are all over the world so it fit.

Then I added my little signature tag and a made with love charm to the zipper pull.

The pillow is a 14” square form and has gone to live near the Pacific Ocean.

He’s the quietest seagull I’ve ever met.  I never once heard a peep out of him but I could hear the piercing keow of his relatives in my head all the while making him.