Body Shop

I built a truck yesterday.

A few weeks ago, I decided that I would make a pillow using the red pickup truck motif that is so popular in Christmas decorations. I checked for one to buy at Hobby Lobby, but the only one they had didn't appeal to me, so that's when I decided I would just make one instead.

Then I decided that it would look good on rough and tough fabric like drop cloth canvas. You can see where this is going, right? Sometimes, the simplest project turns into quite the production, you know.

Off to Lowe's to buy a drop cloth. Then to borrow a couple of truck patterns from quilting friend Sheryll.  Then to find the Wonder Under. Then to buy a pillow form.

Above is a progress shot of truck construction work. I really didn't like that goofy front fender, so I trimmed it down a bit. Added later to the above was the black running board, headlight, and white walls for the tires.

Prepping the canvas fabric involved cutting away the hemmed edge. My pillow form is 16" square, so I cut 18" clear across one end. The extra 2 inches were my precautions for the potentially excessive raveling nature of canvas.

I marked the sewing line on the front panel at 16.5" - this seemed like enough of a seam allowance given that the canvas would be bulky and all. I finger-pressed the center point so everything would look pleasing. Then I placed the truck parts and ironed them on. No turning back at this point!

It had been years since I last machine-appliqued, so I figured I'd better do some practicing first. This little tree is the result of my practice. I will use this in something. Cute, right?

Then I settled in to do the truck on my pillow front panel. It occurs to me that my learning curve might have needed additional practice time. But too late now; it's finished and all its imperfections just add to its charm. That's what I'm telling myself.

The back is envelop-style, so the remaining 18" of my original cut was divided into two parts that overlapped for a neat finish. I sewed it all together, trimmed and zigzagged the seam allowances, and turned it right side out.

Voila! My pillow doesn't look half bad.

I have a lot of canvas drop cloth fabric left over. I suspect I will be coming up with future projects for this versatile material.

Happy Quilting, Friends!