"A cute" triangle pillow tutorial

I just made a really nerdy math joke, that is so unlike me (I lie, that is very much like me). My apologies, I blame either sleep deprivation or overzealous hot chocolate consumption. Seriously, Polar Vortex, this is getting a little old.

Anyhoo.

I made this triangle/hexagon pillow a few years ago for my sewing chair, and it is so comfy and has held up so well I thought I'd share a quick tutorial with you. It's machine sewn and does not require any tricky piecing, unlike regular hexagons, so this simple, scrappy pillow whips up pretty quickly!

Triangle Hexagon Pillow Tutorial



Supplies

First things first, you'll need to choose 6 main colors, and then 4 prints for each of those colors (this should be easy for those of you organized stitchers whose fabric scraps are color coded, for me, not so much, I mostly used fabrics straight off the shelf). This will allow you to do monochromatic wedges, but you could do any kind of design you want. You will also need 1/2 yard of fabric for the back of the pillow. On the pillow above I used regular linen, on my new pillow I chose Essex Yarn Dyed in Black from Robert Kaufman (a super soft linen/cotton blend).

You will also need:
Iron/ironing board
Rotary cutter and mat
Quilting ruler
Straight pins
Scissors
Sewing machine
All purpose thread
Hand sewing needle
Polyfill or other stuffing material
Pattern

My colors - citron, mint, gray, black, off-white, and fuchsia



Pattern

I started out doing actual geometry to come up with the triangle pattern, until I realized that I could make one very easily in Word. If you're interested, the pattern is just an equilateral triangle, so you can insert a triangle shape into Word and then adjust the width and height to make it the right size (the height should be 86.6% of the width, which is approximate, but close enough for this project; for the pillow, the width is about 5.22"). I mention this because you can make the pattern as large or small as you like. Click here for the pattern.

Instructions

1. Cut one triangle from each of the 24 fabrics (press each fabric before cutting!) and place in the order that you want. The photo below shows half of my triangles. Keep in mind the direction that you are cutting the fabric if your pattern is text or a similarly directional design.


2. Now you're going to sew one section of four little triangles into one bigger triangle. Start with two lower triangles:


Flip over the right-hand triangle onto the first, so they are right sides together. Then sew a 1/4" seam down the right side (if you are using this pillow as a cushion, you might consider triple-stitching the seams, if it is for light use as a throw pillow, then single stitching is fine).


Open up the triangles and press the seam allowance toward the triangle that will be on the outside.


Now place your next triangle on top of the upside down triangle, and sew a 1/4" seam down the right side.


And again, open up the triangles and press the seam allowance to the outside.


Finally, place the last triangle on top of the center triangle, right sides together, and sew a 1/4" seam across the top.



3. Make large triangles with the other five colors.

4. Remember how you connected your first three little triangles? Well, you're going to do that again, with three big triangles.

5. Sew your remaining 3 triangles together as you did in Step 4.


6. Place the two larger pieces together, so the long edges line up, and sew them together. Take care to match up the center points as well as you can! Then open up your hexagon and press the seam allowance to one side.


7. Use your big hexagon as a pattern to make the back. Place the hexagon right side down on your backing fabric and cut around it to make another hexagon (so that both pieces are right sides together). Go ahead and cut off all the little seam allowance points that hang over the edges.

8. Pin the edges and then sew all the way around, leaving about 5" open on one side so you can stuff your cushion. Make sure your corners are sharp--your needle should stop right on the corner seam when you make your turns.

9. Trim the seam allowances around the corners.



10. Turn your pillow right side out, then press the stuffing hole fabric under so it is sharply creased. Next, stuff your pillow with polyfill (it will start out really fluffy, but the polyfill compresses nicely after sitting on it a few times!), and hand sew the stuffing hole closed with ladder stitches (scroll down to Step 8). Be sure to put plenty of stuffing in each of the corners!



This pillow would look gorgeous in solids, too. I hope you enjoy this little project--and please feel free to link to your photos or blog posts in the comments if you happen to make this pillow!

Happy Stitching,