Shades of Black « modafabrics

Hi, I’m Stacey and I blog over at The Tilted Quilt ~ I’m thrilled today to share with you my first project for the Moda Bake Shop, a quick pillow that’s sure to add a little sass to any room. I think Shades of Black will be the “Little Black Dress” of fabrics this year – there are so many great black, white and gray prints in this collection, you will find a million uses for them. I wanted this pillow to have a pop as well, so I chose a high contrasting pink solid to enhance the lattice effect of the pattern. I hope you enjoy!

1 charm pack in Shades of Black by Me and My Sister Designs

3/4 yard Bella Solids in Peony (updated)

1/2 yard coordinating black print from Shades of Black

18 x 18″ square muslin or neutral colored fabric (will not be seen)

18 x 18″ square of batting

18″ pillow form

1. Sort the charm pack by color – you will need 8 charms from white prints and 12 charms from black prints. Cut 12 – 5″ squares from the solid pink fabric.

2. Pair a white charm and a pink charm, right sides together.

3. Make 2 Half-Square Triangles (HST) by sewing on 1/4″ on either side of the diagonal. Each pair of charms will result in 2 –
4 1/2″ HST. Sew 4 pairs of white/pink charms to create 8 HST. Trim to 4″.

4. Trim 8 black charms to 4″ square. Pair a pink/white HST with a black charm square. Draw a line across the diagonal as shown – sew directly on the line.

5. Next, trim away 1/4″ past the sewn line to create Unit A. This can be tricky – you want the remaining portion exactly as shown below – with the white quadrant along the top of the unit and the pink along the right hand side. Layout is important here. Make 8 Unit A blocks.

6. To create Unit B, follow the same process as above – beginning with 4 black charms and 4 white charms to create 8 black/white HST’s. Trim to 4″ and match with a trimmed pink charm to create 8 Unit B blocks.

7. Now, it is time to lay turn your units into blocks. Arrange 2 Unit A’s and 2 Unit B’s as shown. Join together to create a block.

8. Create 4 – 4 unit blocks.

9. Once your center is sewn together – add borders. For the first border, from the pink solid, cut 2 – 2″ strips by the width of fabric. Add to the top and bottom first, then the sides. For the outer border, cut 2 – 1″ strips by the width of fabric from the backing fabric. Add them in the same manner as the first border.

The finished pillow top should be 18″ x 18″.

10. Create a quilt sandwich with the pillow top, batting and a layer of muslin or neutral solid.

11. Quilt as desired – I opted for an angular design throughout to complement the blocks.

12. For the backing fabric, cut 2 rectangles 18″x 14″. On each of the rectangles, fold one long edge back 1/4″ and then another 1/4″ and topstitch along the folded edge.

Lay the pillow top facing up, then lay one piece of backing facing down with the folded side to the left, and then the second backing fabric facing down, with the folded side to the right.