Cathedral Windows... Easy Peasy!

I'm terrible giddy over the fact that The Pillow Talk Swap has started up again for round 2!! I've been trying a bunch of new techniques in preparation for this round... but call me crazy... I think my (secret) partner would not mind a cathedral pillow coming their way... hehehe...

So... I thought it would be a bit silly not to show you all just how easy they are! Now let me be completely clear... in no way did I make up this strategy, pattern or am I an expert... I'm just showing you how I roll with it ;)

Now my fav tutorial for this pattern... is this beauty...

http://hyena-in-petticoats.blogspot.com/2007/08/cathedral-window-quilt-tutorial.html

And my most helpful friend Lisa was very clever in her cathedral Window block starting measurements to allow for various pillows sizes... {Per Lisa - I went with 9" squares... my pillow was probably a 16 x 16. For a perfect 20" pillow, you need 13.5 squares to start with. (The final square size is about 1/3 of the starting square.) 9 of those will get you an 18" pillow.} Yes... a very clever duck she is... indeed!

So here we go...

I wanted a 20 X 20 inch pillow for my partner, so my template (made from poster board) is a 13.5 inch square



Then I cut my Kona (coal) into 15 X 15" squares about 3/4 inch past my template (for my overage to wrap around my template... BTW - I cut them into strips { 15 x 44 inches when working with yardage } so, I can make more squares at one time :)



Then I stacked the strips ( 15 x 44 inch ) together, placed my template on top and cut squares (again with about 3/4 inch overage, so each side will have the same amount of overage) or you can simply cut 15" cuts, but remember when wanting your ending squares a different size... you're going to want the 3/4" overage...



This left squares... see... super easy so far (wink, wink) Now... no worries that it's a bit wrinkly... just give it a quick iron job ;)



Okay, next place your template on top of your Kona (with your sides even of overage or as even as your cut will allow... if it's off a bit it's still okay) and iron your corners down over the template... this will hold your template in place!



Then fold over the sides of the overage on each side & iron them





Then take out your template



Fold it in half & iron it



And in half again & iron it... see.. still easy!



Here comes the fun part... now, open it back up! Does this remind you of those fortune tellers in grade school??? LOL



Fold one corner inwards toward your square & iron it



Repeat that step all the way around until you have a smaller square



Then do it again!... always ironing your folds



You're left with this... a perfect little folded square (not really perfect, but it won't make a huge difference, so don't worry if the corners are not mitered perfectly)



Now you just need 8 more of these for the front of your 20 X 20 inch pillow! See... this pattern is more origami than anything else!

I'm off to go buy some more Coal colored Kona! This is the first stage of the Cathedral Pattern... once I have my 9 prepared squares... I'll show you how to sew them together... and please no one get nervous... it really is this easy all the way through!

XO, Heather