Strip Quilted American Flag Pillow

Last week, I saw the cutest American Flag pillow on Facebook.  It was really screaming at me so I decided to make one.  It took me all day yesterday but it's all finished:

When I started on it, I decided to take photos of each step and post it on Facebook.  Everyone seemed to enjoy that so for today, I'm going to put the tutorial together here.

To start, the finished pillow is 14 inches wide X 10 inches high.  Using a ruler, I marked out the pattern on muslin.  I always work on a foundation when I do strip quilting.

My stripes are 1 inch.  I didn't measure the blue patch.  I just eye-balled it.

Using my 1930's reproduction prints, I cut strips 1 1/2 inches high by however long I needed them to fit the flag pattern.

When I mark my foundation fabric, I use a black permanent market.  The point of this is so I can see it through the back of the foundation.

I started at the bottom, sewed down the first strip and then worked my way up.  I should have taken more photos.  I actually line my strips up and then sew on the line on the back.  Then I flip the strip, pressed it and sewed down the next strip until I got to the top.

The next step was to top stitch narrow lace over the seams.  This gave the "flag" a softer, more vintage look.

Here, I cut a piece of blue fabric.  Added fusible web to the back and ironed it in place.  Then I top stitched that on the edges.

Over the edges of the blue fabric, I top stitched some lace and then a row of blue ric rack.

For the "stars", I hand sewed on some vintage Mother Of Pearl Buttons.

Now for finishing.  I trimmed my edges making sure the flag was squared up.

I always cut my backing fabric larger than my actual stitched or quilted piece. 

With right sides together and starting at the bottom, sew the front to the back leaving about 6 inches open at the bottom for turning right side out.  Trim the excess fabric.

Turn right side out and press the seams so that the pillow is flat.  Stuff firmly with polyester fiberfill and blind stitch the opening closed by hand.

And that's all there is too it!