Hand Pieced Patchwork Death Star Pillow

4/26/2014 08:23:00 PM

After seeing Melinda's (Quirky Granola Girl) Patchwork Death Star, I knew immediately that I absolutely had to make one for my Star Wars loving sister-in-law, Shelley.

Click to Enlarge

Melinda kindly provided the paper pattern for the Death Star on her blog and I downloaded it immediately. Then the very next day, I was at my quilting guild's sewing day and scored some great grey scraps (whoop!) and the plan came together very quickly.

That one section looks really green in these pics, but it's more of a grey!

The pieced segments are basted to paper (I used a glue stick) and then you hand sew them together, which was a bit fiddly, but didn't really take that much time. I changed it up a bit, because Melinda actually pieced the background sections to the Death Star, but I appliqued the star right on top of a large square of background fabric. I was thrilled when I found the background fabric, and I love it's blue hue which gives the whole pillow a nice "spacey" feeling.  I can't think of another way to describe it! It's called "Texture" by Janet Clare for Moda.


After appliqueing the star on, I layered the top with batting and a backing fabric and started quilting. I used a variegated grey/white pearl cotton to hand stitch the stars, an outer running stitch, and the detail in the circle for the super laser. I used black pearl cotton for the line that goes around the middle, which Wookiepedia tells me its an equatorial trench. I used Aurifil cotton quilting thread to machine quilt the black rings in the background, and the grey stitching in the segments. I don't know a lot about death stars, but I followed Melinda's example, plus googled and viewed plenty of pictures.


The back is a from the Ghastlies collection by Alexander Henry.  The zipper was supposed to be a hidden, lapped zipper... but I forgot how to do it.  I decided to go for it anyway and it didn't quite work out as "lapped" as I would have liked, but it's not too horrible ;).


The pillow was for Shelley's birthday, which isn't until next Saturday, but I just couldn't wait to get it to her. So after quilting guild today, I drove there to pick up my son, whom she was babysitting for me, and gave it to her right away. I'm very happy to say that I got the squeals and reaction that I was hoping for. She loved it!!!  And... so do I. Very happy day!


I can add this to my collection of other geeky projects, like the Minecraft Lapis Lazuli block, and the Lego Sewing Machine.


Thanks for looking, leave a comment!
Janelle

You Might Also Like

15 comments

  1. I love this! I'm going to a quilting retreat next weekend and I have to do a block of something "futuristic". Might have to do this. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it! You go, Janelle! (P.S. working on the March bag tonight - should be able to finish it tomorrow and try the death star.)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sounds good, you should do it Elaina! Oh man, I really need to get my March bag done. Only a few more days to go until March is over :S I will do it!! Let me know if you make the Death Star, would love to see it!!

      Delete
  2. I love that pillow, I'm sure my geeky boys would love it too. You did such a great job on the pillow.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love the blue and the circular quilting. I would love to make it with planets in the middle-starting with earth, but my skills are not quite there yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Give it a try! You will surprise yourself. The planets idea sounds fab, I love it!

      Delete
  4. Oh my sons and grandsons are going to love this:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. It turned out great! I'm making one in suuuper secret for my husband as a wall hanging. All that's left is the quilting! I love that background, and the little stars you added.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I HAVE to make this...for um me! Hmmm I have 3 grey fabrics oooops....ok I HAVE to start collecting fabrics to make this for me! Itll go great with my deathstar cookie jar I um got me for mothers day hahahahaha

    ReplyDelete
  7. This is awesome!! I think the zipper looks just fine, too :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. I saw this on pinterest and had to come look closer. Just awesome! Now I know what to make the hubby for Father's day. . . .Thanks for the terrific post!

    ReplyDelete
  9. This is incredible!! I love it so so much! Thank you for sharing your picture and blog post with me.
    I'm sorry it took so long to get your message. Google stopped forwarding comments to my email and I have no idea why.
    Anyway, I'm thrilled to see your version of the Death Star.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have to do this. It should make a nice present for my husband from our puppy, Vader.

    ReplyDelete
  11. i love this so much- i guess we'll see if i can figure out how to get it all together for the holidays this year for my hubby... or maybe next year!! :D thanks for the inspiration! your pillow is fabulous!

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Shop our hardware!

A Note

The contents of this blog, including text, original photos and ideas are the sole property of the author. If you intend to use my text or images, please link back to this blog and give credit to Emmaline Bags & Patterns. A notification email would be greatly appreciated too! Please do not ever republish an entire post, any tutorials, or post photos of my family. Thank you, Janelle