I decided to make a pillow to continue my experiment mixing non-traditional fabrics in my piecing. This time I used quilter’s cottons, minky, faux fur, and leather. This is a Dog in a Sweater from Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Franson.
Leather is by far the most difficult to piece with. I can’t pin it perpendicular to the seam like I normally do, because the pin hole will show. I pin parallel to the seam inside of the seam allowance. It bends my pins! Also, the leather doesn’t want to slide across my machine bed. Once it is on the feed dogs all is fine, though. I also need to be careful when ironing – I iron from the back or just up to the fabric. The face of the iron changes the texture of the leather if it hits the front. Leather seams are pressed away from the leather, so the piece can remain flat. You can’t really see the leather in the photo. I put leather in the nose.
Minky is slippery and requires extra pinning. I do not press Minky open, either. I try to keep the minky piece flat to reduce bulk.
The faux fur was from a piece of trim I’ve had for years. It is about an inch wide, and I had a yard of it. I decided to piece the block with some plain white fabric. This fur is very fluffy. I top stitched the fur down once the piecing was complete. If I had used something like Cuddle fur I would have pieced it in. This one wasn’t wide enough for that.
The sweater is a sweet new piece of dachshund fabric I added to my collection recently. It is from Dear Stella. I found it at Gotham Quilts in New York City.
The red and green fabrics are Christmas prints I had in my stash. They were acquired at Joann Fabrics last year.
I quilted the pieces on my longarm. I decided to use two layers of batting for extra texture on the front. There is a piece of Hobbs 80/20, along with a piece of Hobbs wool on top. Wool batting makes everything so nice and fluffy. I stitched in the ditch around the dog, with extra stitching around the furry parts to highlight them. The background is just a meander. I used Superior Bottom Line for the quilting. It disappears and just leaves texture.
Christmas creating is now officially underway! 
Oscar enjoyed having his photo taken with the new pillow.
Related posts:
A larger Dogs in Sweaters quilt
Previous faux fur stitching – Boris Bear Pillow, Playing with Cuddle Fabric
Another Dog in a Sweater
What a cute pillow and I bet the extra texture from the leather and minky are fun to explore. Good tips about pressing those more challenging materials. And Oscar looks right at home with the new addition. 🙂
An adorable pillow and doggie to go with it. Looks like Oscar is claiming it for himself. Good hints on working with the non-traditional fabrics.
Your quilting really enhanced the detail. Excellent job!
Thanks!
OK…you’ve done it again. You come up with the cutest things. How perfect for the holidays! Great job.
Thanks!
So cute. I have all my fabric for this quilt, but so many small pieces, I am dreading it. I love the dog with the dog pillow!
Just ale it one step at a time. I do one block at a time – when I try to chain piece I make a mess.
I just need to take the leap and do the first one. Thanks Jennifer!
So cute! And I bet it’s fun to cuddle with, almost like a real dog, with all those textured fabrics.
Cute! I was wondering if Oscar was the model, after just reading your previous homework post. =) I see that you like to explore in quilting, too. So jealous of your Gammill!