Eight point applique star pillow tutorial

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Do you enjoy making quilted pillows as much as I do?

Applique is the perfect accent on a small pillow and the eight-pointed stars really pop on this pillow.

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial

Eight point applique star pillow tutorial

14″ pillow

Looking for a perfect beginner quilt project and a great way to practice your free-motion quilting? This would be perfect!

Purchase an ad-free printable version of my Eight Point Star Pillow tutorial here

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial

Supplies:

Cutting:

  • ½ yard of print for applique, border, and backing- sub-cut 2 – 2½” x 10½” strips and 2 – 2½” x 14½” strips for the front
  • 2½” strip of light teal batik – sub-cut 8 squares
  • 2½” strip of dark teal batik – sub-cut 8 squares
  • white or cream 6½” x 6½” square

Follow the directions on the HeatnBond to place it on your fabric for the applique. 

The Eight Pointed Star

Download and print the template for the eight-pointed star that is listed in the supplies. Trace the star or stars on to the HeatnBond adhesive.

Instead of cutting two separate eight-pointed stars, I carefully cut the center out of the large star and used it for my small star. I have also included a small star diagram if you prefer to cut it out separately.

Place the stars on the 6½” center square and applique if desired. (I usually wait until I have the whole pillow top completed.

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial with marigolds

14″ pillow diagram

This diagram shows you how to piece the pillow top.

  • Use a ¼” seam allowance throughout.
  • Sew three of the 2½” squares together using 2 light and 1 dark square.
  • Repeat this step three times.
  • Sew one of these sections to the top of the applique center and one to the bottom.
Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial

Next, add a dark 2½” square to both ends of the two remaining sections and then, add them to the sides of your center.

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial

Add the borders around the square to complete the pillow top.

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial diagram

Applique and Quilting

Applique the stars, I did a little wiggle free motion stitch on my vintage Singer sewing machine as it doesn’t have a zigzag stitch. If you have a sewing machine that does zigzag then use a narrow setting to do your applique.

Adding some batting for texture

I like to add a layer of batting and a layer of muslin to my pillow top before quilting it. This really helps to give a beautiful texture.

Quilt as desired. I outlined around the stars and did a loop on the squares.

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial diagram

FINISHING THE PILLOW

Envelope Style Pillow Back:

For this pillow, I decided to do an envelope style pillow back as I had plenty of background fabric.

Each backside piece will be the same width as the front side and ½ of the length plus 5 inches.

This will account for seams and create an overlap which is the envelope part. If you make the pieces too short, you will have a gap when you insert the pillow form.

For example, my pillow is 14 inches so 1/2 of that is 7 inches + 5= 12 inches.

  • Cut two pieces of the print 14½″ x 12″ for the pillow back. On each piece fold the one side under ¼” and press.
  • On one piece fold under ½” and topstitch it. On the other piece fold under 1″ and topstitch.
  • Place the 1″ top stitched piece face down on the pillow top, then place the ½” top stitched piece face down on it.
  • Stitch around the pillow with a ¼” seam allowance.

Turn right side out, press and insert the pillow insert. You now have a beautiful pillow!

Eight Point Applique Star pillow tutorial featured

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. It has been converted to an optional PDF that’s optimized for printing.

Purchase an ad-free printable version of my Eight Point Star Pillow tutorial here

If you make a pillow from this tutorial, I would love to see a photo of it! I have many pillow tutorials and here are a few others that you might enjoy.

I originally created this pillow in 2013, can you believe that!

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Looking for great buys on fabric and things? Check out these links

Applique star pillow tutorial
Connie with her dogs

About Connie

Hi, I’m Connie Kresin Campbell, the quilter, writer, and photographer behind Freemotion By the River. I enjoy inspiring others with my quilt tutorials and patterns. You’ll also see my sweet adopted dogs from time to time.

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16 Comments

  1. On my iPhone there is no hyperlink as you described to Lori at least I cannot find it!. It seems to be that I have to sign up for your newsletter (that I already receive) in order to get a PDF. I took a screenshot for you to see but it won’t allow me to include it here. Thanks for your help Connie. I really like the pillow and your tutorial but would like to make it in the future, so I’d like a PDF. 😊

    1. Sorry about that Kathy, you can find the pdf in my Resource Library under Pillows.

  2. Lovely Star Pillow and the batik fabrics are gorgeous. Your tutorial is wonderful…Thank You Connie Dear.

  3. nancy seitz says:

    Found pattern for Star Pillow in resources.
    Do you know where I might find the notes for note pillow?
    Thank you.

  4. nancy seitz says:

    I read that it says there is a star template and .pdf, but there is no where to click. Love the pillow and want to make for grand.
    Thanks

  5. Pamela K. Coughlin says:

    Would love the PDF of this beautiful pillow please!

  6. Yes, please, Connie, I would love a pdf pattern. I have several pillow forms that are calling me but I didn’t know what to put on their fronts. I didn’t want just plain old pillows. In fact, the one has a lovely front on it but has gotten old and faded. The pillow is still good so want to give it a facelift.

  7. Matilde Graciano says:

    It is a lovely pillow! I want to make it. Yes, I would like a PDF to print the instructions. Thanks

  8. Love this, PDF please!

  9. Marlene Mare says:

    Hi Connie,
    This is a beautiful pillow and would appreciate if you could send me the pdf.
    Much appreciate
    Regards Marlene

  10. Lori Smanski says:

    This is so pretty. Yes I would love a pdf. The pictures are not coming through with just copy and past. Thank you for sharing

    1. Susan the Farm Quilter says:

      Lori, you can download the pdf on the hotlink at the beginning of the post…the letters are a different color for hotlinks then they are for the rest of the text. The sentence containing the link is “I have included a downloadable template for the star.” and it is the third sentence of the post. Hope you can find it!
      Thank you, Connie!!!

  11. What a cute pillow! I’m thinking of making it in Christmas fabric. It would be a good way to get ride of some of my scraps. Thanks for the lovely pattern.

  12. PDF please. Thank you for all you do.