Musical Notes Pillow Tutorial

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Do you enjoy making and gifting pillows as much as I do? You will have fun making this beautiful musical notes pillow.

Musical Notes Applique Pillow Tutorial

Musical Notes Pillow
16″ x 16″

If someone in your family or a friend loves music then you should make them a pillow like this one. This is bright and colorful and would look perfect on a bed, in the living room or on the deck. I really had fun making my musical notes pillow and hope you enjoy the tutorial.

Applique Musical Pillow on deck rail

Purchase an ad-free printable version of my Musical Notes pillow tutorial here

To make this pillow I used the new AccuQuilt GO! Music Medley die and my Electric GO! cutter. AccuQuilt describes this die as:

This die is music to any quilter’s ears because it cuts four appliqué shapes at one time. Use the Treble Clef, Quarter Note, Eighth Note and Singe Bar Note to create projects that put a song in your heart. Apply fusible web to the wrong side of fabrics prior to cutting for quick and easy appliqué.

AccuQuilt
AccuQuilt Musical die and batiks

I like music but it has been years…..and years since I played the violin in grade school and I didn’t remember what the notes were so I googled musical notations to get an idea of how to play the notes on the lines. I forgot to ask my granddaughter who plays the clarinet how I did when she was here last week.

I used some more of that fun bolt of batik that I bought last fall when we stopped at SR Harris Fabric in Minnesota. If you ever are in the area be sure and stop, you won’t believe all of the fabrics and the prices are half off.

There is a store in Burnsville, MN and also Brooklyn Park MN. I’ve been to both of them.

Easy to make Musical applique pillow on chair

Fabric:

  • 1 yard light colored  fabric
  • 5½” x 10¼” scraps of four bright batiks
  • 1/2 yard Heat n Bond Lite
  • Frixon pen for marking
  • 17″ x 17″ batting
  • 16″ pillow form

Directions:

  • Cut a 17″ x 17″ square from the light background fabric.
  • Fold in half and press.
  • Measure up 1 inch from this line and mark a line across your fabric, measure up 1 inch again and do this until you have five lines.
  • Measure down from the center 1 inch and mark a line across your fabric, measure down 1 inch again and do this until you have five lines.
  • This will leave a 2 inch space in the center of your pillow.

I still like using my Frixon pens for marking and when I mark a straight line and then stitch over it I never worry about it reappearing. Another neat thing is that Frixon pens are the only pens you can use with the Rocketbook.

Dritz also has a set of Quilting Heat Erase Pens and there is even a white pen in that set. I haven’t tried them yet but I just added them to my Wish list on Amazon.

Using Frixon pens to mark fabric

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Stitch on the lines twice with a dark blue thread – I used Aurifil 40 wt thread. Do this before you add the appliqued notes to the pillow top.

Mark and stitch the lines before stitching around the notes

Applique:

I have included templates for the musical notes that you can use if you don’t have the AccuQuilt die.

Download the Musical Notes templates

Apply 5¼” x 10″ Heat n Bond Lite to each of the four 5½” x 10¼” strips bright batik pieces following the manufactures instructions.

Place fabric right side up on the Musical Medley die and cut out. Place the notes on your pillow and applique. I chose to do a free-motion stitch along the edges of the appliques.

Add a layer of batting and quilt as desired.

Quilting on the Musical Notes pillow

Add a layer of batting and quilt as desired. Trim the pillow top to 16½” x 16½”.

Making the Pillow back:

  • Cut two pieces 16½” x 10″  for a envelope style pillow.
  • Fold under one long edge (16½”) twice and stitch down on both pieces.
  • Lay one backing piece right sides together with the pillow front. (The folded edge should be facing up.
  • Lay the other piece also right side together on top. Stitch a 1/4” seam around the edge.
  • Turn right side out.

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 Musical Notes pillow tutorial here

Pillows are a great way to use your AccuQuilt dies! Here are several other pillows I made using the Clamshell and Queen of Hearts dies.

Pillows made with AccuQuilt dies

The Clamshell pillow is also raw-edge applique – one of these days I’ll make a clamshell project by sewing the curved pieces together but right now, this is my favorite way to use this die. 

The Queen of Hearts Pillow was made with some of my leftover scraps and I just realized I haven’t posted that pillow yet. I’ll get that done soon and then add the link. You can also checkout the Queen of Hearts pillow tutorial on AccuQuilt’s blog.

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17 Comments

  1. You can make this pillow without a machine. Just trace some musical notes and cliff signs and then cut them out with a scissors, use heat bond and you have your pillow pattern.

  2. Ann Brown says:

    I love the music pillow but unfortunately am unable to afford the Acuquult machine.

  3. This is an adorable pillow, especially if someone has a AccuQuilt! How sweet of you to offer it up as a tutorial.

  4. I would love to make this pillow, but alas I don’t own an AccuQuilt machine.

  5. I love the musical note pillow and the ones in the background look beautiful, too!

  6. This is sooo cute. That would make such a great gift. The fabrics that you used are perfect for it too. You have such a nice little collection of pillows there.

  7. Connie ~ This is a great looking pillow. I saw that die and right away wanted to buy it soon. I’ve had the same thought as Brenda did in her comment; they needed to have the Bass Clef on the die also. That’s a basic need for any music to have the Treble and Bass Clef’s. It’s nice though to see other notes being included AND that the little ‘flags’ (for lack of a better term) are going to correct direction. I know that sounds funny, but I’ve seen so many machine embroidery music sets I’ve wanted to buy over the years, and for some reason they have the eighth notes and sometimes others with the little ‘flags’ on the wrong side so you can’t even reverse them in the embroidery software because they are directly over the round/oval part of the note at the bottom.

    I have a friend who is a music director and is an amazing woman spending her own time to take the kids she teaches on trips and even takes them to the contests they are in spending her own money. She has had positions in the lower income schools since I’ve known her and she loves helping those kids become very advanced to give them a shot and doing something great as they get older. This would be a great gift for her. I know she’s love it. I think I might consider using the die to make her an awesome tote bag or something with a zipper on top that would hold her music and flute and other things with a shoulder strap. That would be something I know she’d love a lot and be able to use it.

  8. Brenda Ackerman says:

    Hello Connie; Your pillow design is a marvelous pattern! It would make a great gift for anyone who plays an instrument or just loves music. I do not have the die you have used, but I have a feeling that musical notes would not be hard to discover on a search. Thank you so much for sharing another tutorial on one of your brilliant designs! Have a great day!

  9. OMG!! This is the cutest pillow I’ve seen in ages. I love the background fabric and the colors you chose for the notes. This would make a wonderful gift for a music teacher or anyone who loves music.

  10. That is so pretty! The colors you used are great.

  11. This one speaks to me, Connie! I saw this die and thought, man, they just need to add a bass clef in addition to the notes and treble clef! Great job on all of the pillows, but this one wins my heart!!