Guest Bedroom Bedding Progress and Pillow Fabric Options

My trim for the guest bedroom bedding finally arrived, so I was able to finish up the quilt and two pillow shams yesterday. I still have three more pillows that I need to sew, so the bedding isn’t quite finished yet. I’ll show you the options for the other pillows later in this post, but here’s what I actually have finished so far…

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I ordered this quilt set from Overstock in a king size to use for the actual quilt, and then I bought a twin size to use to make matching pillow shams.

I ordered a king size, even though the bed is a queen size, because I wanted to be able to customize it to the precise size I wanted. So naturally, the king size was way too big…

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Before I did any cutting and resizing, I washed it, which made the fabric so incredibly soft. I’m very happy with this quilt. It’s not too heavy, not too lightweight, and super soft. I also like the very simple stitching.

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So after washing it and then spreading it out on the bed…

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I determined exactly how much I wanted it to hang down on each side, and then started cutting.

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Here’s how it looked once I had it cut down to size.

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And then I sewed on the extra wide quilt binding in yellow.

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I didn’t take pictures for a tutorial on how to sew bias tape quilt binding because there are some excellent tutorial on YouTube already. This one is my favorite.

For the pillows, I purchased 27-inch pillow inserts from JoAnn Fabrics. So I cut the front piece of quilted fabric for the front to 28.5 inches, and then cut two pieces for the back to make an envelope style pillow cover. I made one bigger than the other, and hemmed one edge on each piece.

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I placed the front piece right side down on my work table…

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And then placed the smaller back piece right side up on the front piece…

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And then placed the larger piece on the front piece so that it was overlapping the smaller piece a couple of inches. I pinned all the layers together.

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Then I flipped it over and trimmed the excess off of the larger back piece.

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With all the layers pinned together and trimmed, I sewed the edges together using a zigzag stitch.

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And here’s how the back looked once it was all sewed together.

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And here’s the front view with the pillow insert inside the pillow cover…

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And then I used that same method to add the bias tape quilt binding along the edges.

The pillow inserts I bought have little zippers in them so that you can add more stuffing if you want. Well, I like my pillows on the plump side, so I removed all of the polyfil stuffing, added one standard pillow’s worth of down/feather fill, and then added all of the polyfil stuffing back into the pillow insert. Yeah, they’re very plump. 😀 And feathers I used came from Target’s $15 feather pillows, which are my go-to pillows when I want to make non-standard size pillow forms with down/feather fill.

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Anyway, I haven’t had much experience in the past with sewing on quilt binding, so I was pretty pleased with how this turned it. It’s not perfect, but I did wash it after I sewed it on, and it looked just fine after washing and drying.

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So that’s the part of the bedding that I have finish…

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Now I need to decide on the other pillows. This is my preferred pillow arrangement — two square pillows, two standard pillows, and one small accent pillow.

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As I mentioned in my last post, things are just hard to find right now (as many of you have also noticed). So the pretty wide selection of fabrics that used to be available locally have dwindled quite a bit. And I didn’t want to order a bunch of samples online because this blue is kind of strange, and only about 1 in 5 dark blue fabric seem to work. So ordering fabric samples online and narrowing that down would take forever.

So I’m going to use one of the two blue fabrics that I found locally, along with the front pillow that incorporates the drapery velvet in some way. I hope to come up with something a little more interesting than a solid yellow velvet pillow, but for now, I just draped some of that fabric over the pillow so you can see that fabric on the bed.

The first blue fabric I found is this blue strie fabric. I didn’t want to cut the fabric until I decide if I want to use it or not, so here’s the one big piece of fabric wrapped around both pillows…

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Here’s a closer view of it…

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And here’s the second fabric. I actually found this in the remnant bin, and there were two pieces, so I snatched up both of them. This one has a diamond pattern on it.

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And here’s a close up of this one…

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So I’m having a hard time deciding between the strie or the diamonds. I go back and forth on it. One minute, I’ll love the strie. The next minute, I’ll love the diamonds more. So you can let me know what you think.

And if you have any brilliant ideas of how I can incorporate the yellow velvet into that front pillow without it being one solid blob of yellow, I’m all ears!

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108 Comments

  1. I prefer the stripe blue fabric. Have you thought of doing some embroidery or candle wicking on the gold pillow?

    1. That was my thought exactly–for both the strie fabric and for the pillow. The embroidery need not be complicated, either in stich or design. If your sewing machine can do embroidery stiches, that would make it much easier, especially for a geometric pattern.

      1. agreed a freehand stitch echoing the amazing flowers from the wall could look great. my vote is for the stripe fabric.

    2. The diamond fabric is so elegant. That’s my choice. OR if you feeling game, make them reversible and use both fabrics. Depends how much you hate installing zips.

  2. I love the strie fabric better. The other one looks faded. I love what you did…it is amazing! I trust you and your magic touch.

  3. I prefer the diamond. Would you have enough left over of either of the blue fabrics to make and edging for the yellow pillow like the edging on the quilt and shams?

  4. I too prefer the stripe. The diamond seems pale from a distance. As for the gold, what about running trim in the center, or a 3-4 inch band of the stripe? Don’t know how you feel about monograms, but you could find someone who could monogram on it.

    1. Looks great! I prefer the stripe fabric as it echos the quilt. I also think that navy velvet flange on the yellow pillow would look nice.

    2. I prefer the stripe, and I think the front pillow could look great with a white and yellow geometric pattern. You no doubt will land in something amazing

    1. I like the first blue fabric, the stripe. Maybe a monogram or a cute phrase, live,love,laugh as an example. I know that is so overused but something similar. The bedding is so pretty !!!

      1. The stripe fabric looks more contemporary to me with the diamond being more classic. If you used the diamond fabric, a diamond tufted treatment on the yellow velvet would repeat that motif and make a great contrast to the floral on the wall and the linear floor treatment.

      1. Like the idea to use both fabrics. Why choose. Both are great. Also, this room has a stuffy feel. . It needs a little something fun or whimsical. Accent pillow could have fringe. A pillow with The same colors but Having a design like animals, flowers anything that interest you. Needs Pizzazz

        1. Love this idea, and just using a simple running stitch with thick thread would be so easy and quick and would look amazing IMO.
          Oh, and I prefer the stripe fabric for the pillows.
          Looks amazing Kristi …. as always.

      1. You need a place to put a suitcase that’s not on the floor. Thanks Jacque for your comment about the room needs Pizzazz

  5. On the yellow pillow, sew with a deep navy fabric and make a wide stripe in yellow flanked some how with Navy and do the reverse on the other side.

    1. I like both of the blue fabrics, but I think I like the diamond is just a bit better.
      For the yellow pillow, could you use some of the scrap from the quilt to make two parallel bands around the pillow, something like this, with Y representing yellow fabric and W representing white fabric along the length of the pillow:
      YYWYWYYYYYY
      You’d have to play with the width and spacing to make it look right. 😊
      Another option would be a widish white band across the middle of the pillow with a yellow fabric flower in the middle of that. Actually…I think I might like that idea even better. 😁
      It’s looking really nice!!

    2. First I want to say you have done a beautiful job of decorating!! Everything looks gorgeous!!

      Personally, I think using that much of the diamond pattern clashes too much with the wallpaper. I like the stripe pattern much better for the bigger pillows. Maybe you could add the diamond pattern as trim, along with using a wide band of it in the center of the yellow pillow??

      1. I always love what you create, you are amazing ! Personally, I would love to see you repeat the blue color of the throw at the foot of the bed. It seems strong enough to stand up against the gold. The other blues look a little washed out to me. Although it might look totally different in person. Whatever you do, I know it will look amazing 😊

  6. I think the diamond complements the wallpaper beautifully. To me, the stripe looks heavy, which could just be the photo.
    I am definitely not a seamstress, but with your talents, what about piecing one of the blues and the yellow together. It will be lovely no matter what you decide!

  7. For the small accent pillow, how about doing it in a blue velvet accented by a large fleur de lis (sp?) or other decorative emblem in the gold fabric?

  8. My vote is for the strie. The color pops more. Can you do stenciling on the yellow from the same pattern you used on the wall?

  9. Cool coming along great! Beautiful!
    I’m going to suggest you embroidery the flower patterns off of the wall on the gold pillow. Either one smaller full pattern, or just one large flower in a simplified pattern.
    Blue striped is also my pick, the diamonds are to deluted in color. JMHO

    1. I agree about carrying the wallpaper pattern onto the velvet. Embroidering velvet is a PITA but it quilts or crewels nicely. The other option would be a Greek key trim in blue (anything from denim to grosgrain or cording or satin ribbon would work). Either way using the white quilt offcuts as backing makes sense.

  10. Looking lovely!
    I like both the blue fabrics, I would use both- 1 on each side so you can go with your mood. If you can’t find a pattern fabric for the small cushion, why not make your own? Quilt a pillow front – one using all the fabrics? white, yellow velvet, and both of the blue patterns?

    1. Maybe you should scrap the blue for pillows. The blanket at the end of the bed looks great but the other blues seem meager in comparison. How about two yellow medium pillows and the small pillow just like the big pillows. That’s how it feels to me but your amazing eye will make it perfect, as usual.

      1. I’m sorry. I always do this wrong and end up replying to another comment rather than posting my comment separately.

        1. Hi, I don’t like any of the blue for pillows. Personally, I would have used a gold material of some sort and perhaps some of the blue velvet as the smaller one, but with some thing seen on the front of it. I wouldn’t have everything plain. But, I love what you do Kristi I’m sure you’ll find something you love

  11. Strie fabric is beautiful and pulls in more of the dark moody color of the wall. Maybe use the yellow fabric as a stripe effect used with the diamond fabric? Possibly a center stripe?

  12. Kristi … this is stunning , just the right amount of yellow so that the wallpaper is not lost .. i prefer the blue striped as it is pleasing to my eye without having to work to look at it … wonderful

  13. I don’t like either blue pillow fabric. I’d rather see a blue color more like the throw blanket. The others look like you tried to match the accent wall and failed. Just wrong blues when in relation to the wall as and the throw. I think a yellow and white combo for the front pillow would be nice, sewed strips or blocks, with yellow trim. Love your amazing designs!

  14. Love what you’ve done so far! It’s coming right along! For the blue pillow, I prefer the strie. It doesn’t compete with the floral wall as much as the diamond pattern does. Can’t wait to see what else you do in the guest room!

  15. Team diamond!

    For the yellow pillow, it needs something structural. Tufting, a gather, embroidery, a fabric flower, a fun trim sewed across the face, etc.

  16. With apologies, but since you asked, I am a matchey-matchey person. Make the pillow match the wall, in blue with the gold and white flowers. Wasn’t there a company mentioned at some point that makes fabric to match? But you will make it beautiful one way or another. Somehow, I think if either of these fabrics really spoke to you, you wouldn’t be asking. I still think the bed should be on the other wall, so you could see the blue wall in all its glory. Good grief, I need to get out more!

  17. You could take the yellow fabric to someone who has a quilting machine and choose a pattern you like and have them stitch it in a blue thread. The cost is usually something like .02 cents per inch. Then you could make your pillow sham, would give you a texture and color

  18. love how the room is coming together! How about using both fabrics, by doing the strip one on one side, the diamond fabric on the other side. Then you can flip it depending on your whim.

  19. Use one of the blue fabrics for the big pillows (I think the strie one is my favourite by a narrow margin), and then use the other blue for the little pillow, using the yellow fabric as an accent somehow on all three pillows, or just the little pillow. You could even easily make your own binding from the yellow fabric because it doesn’t need to be bias cut since you’re not going around any curves, and then you could do something similar to what you did with the quilt and the pillows.

    1. I like the blue throw blanket, I’d use that. Sorry, not trying to be difficult but you asked, sort of. 😀

  20. Wow, this really looks fantastic! Your vision is really coming together. The colors are all so clean and fresh.

    I prefer the more diamond blue fabric for the extra pillows because the strie fabric reminds me of grubby industrial chenille, even though it isn’t, if that makes sense. To me, the diamond blue looks fresher.

  21. Love, love, love your style! I’m thinking stripes because the rest of the room has nice clean lines, and the stripes would complement them. The stripes are also a bit darker in look so it’s ‘weight’ also goes with the rest of the rich deep colours. The diamonds look too wishy washy. Keep it bold and crisp 🙂 Keep on rocking your stuff – I know whatever you decide will be perfect.

  22. Maybe do reverse of the square pillows with yellow for the base and scrap white for edging or a Greek key or other geometric design?

  23. My preference is the strie, but I like the suggestion to do the strie on one side and the diamond on the other. Options are always good.

    The room is amazing! I always love your color combos.

    You must have an overwhelming sense of achievement when you walk around your home. Watching the transformation has been fabulous. I’m awestruck!

  24. I think I’m on team strie. As for the gold pillow, I actually like it all yellow. Lots of people have suggested piecing, which would be fun! You could also do tassels on either side or pompom trim around the edges. Maybe that’s too boho? The last idea I had was similar to the embroidery idea, you could do some really simple daisies or stars or asterisk type patterns in the corners? It could also be sprinkled over the whole front kind of like polka dots. It’s looking really awesome so far and you always have such fun rooms! I’m excited to see what you do!

  25. I prefer the strie; the darker shade just seems to fit better overall with the wallpaper, but I wish it was horizontal. Could you do some piecing on the yellow pillow, maybe in a diagonal? Using both blue fabrics? Whatever you do, it will look great. And, as I always say, it’s your home, your room; go with what makes you feel happiest!

  26. I like the stripes better. I actually love how the “yellow blob” of pillow looks with all the others. It goes well and provides just enough contrast to tie together the other yellow you have in the room. It’s all coming along beautifully!

  27. I really like the stripe fabric…but on my computer screen the blue throw at the foot of the bed seems to be a very different hue from the rest of the room. More of a brighter blue vs a navy.

  28. I like the striped fabric (1st One) How about have a two sided pillow 1 stiped and the other side with your other choice if you have enough fabric.

  29. I love the quilt and shams! As for the other pillows, I much prefer the strie. Is the throw at the bed just temporary? To my eye, based on the photo, this color blue is the odd man out and throwing the other two blue fabrics off. The throw is a much brighter blue and doesn’t seem to go with the other blues. Maybe IRL this is not the case.
    I have a blue velvet lumbar accent pillow that is sewn in a wide stripe pattern with a cream linen-like fabric. It’s really pretty and gives the right touch of blue velvet for me.

    1. Agree on the throw- it definitely looks like it doesn’t belong. Just trust yourself- you always find what makes you happy.

  30. I love both options but have a question about why you would put a cover on the pillows you or a guest would be sleeping on? If it were me, I would find some pretty pillow cases, or make some so that you don’t have to remove a slip cover when you go to bed. Or is there another set of pillows somewhere that I’ve missed? The room is beautiful.

  31. My thought would be to do the yellow lumbar pillow with channel stitching like the quilt and with white edge binding, rather like a reverse of your big square pillows. For the blue pillows, I like the diamonds because it has the blues of the headboard and your throw, and offers a complementary pattern to the floral wall. I feel you have plenty of the same blue from your floral wall with your dresser on the opposite wall so don’t really need to add to it with the strie. My two cents. It will be a beautiful room however you do it!

  32. You can’t go wrong with a monogram. Make it a large one and do it in the blue, Love all things monogrammed

  33. No to both blue fabrics. Too grayed out. Either match the fabric to the wall paint or the dresser paint. You can actually use paint on fabric if you add Liquitex Fabric Medium to it to keep it supple. There are other brands of Fabric Medium available thru Michaels, Dick Blick, possibly Hobby Lobby. Any place that carries art supplies and, of course. online. I’m just more familiar with this brand. A textured piece of fabric would look great. And I vote for separate pillows, not one long one.
    For the SMALL PILLOW, how about using the scraps of white quilt the size of the pillow front/back with a solid yellow flange about 3-4 inches wide with interfacing to keep it perky. OR . . . vice versa with a quilted flange in white, yellow body and yellow edges on the flange like the quilt/big pillows. If you really want to drive yourself crazy, do a yellow piping in the center of the white body. Might be a solution if you don’t have big enough white pieces for the front piece.

    1. I would love to see you paint fabric to match the design you painted on the wall. It would be stunning and could easily be made as a pillow cover

  34. The comments here are always about as entertaining as the post. 😉. I think either blue fabric will work, and it’s only fabric. You can always make some more if you find something you like better once our supply chain is back to normal. The first thing that popped into my head about the yellow pillow question is a monogram! What about a nice big bold dark blue monogram?

  35. Love the diamond pattern on the pillows with the floral in the background. We know you love stripes is there a way to do a stripe design with the strie fabric on the gold?

  36. Love both the blues, but the diamonds has just that little extra something that makes it more special. I had a similar problem with gold pillows on my bed and had our monogram sewed onto the front in navy to tie everything together. Just went to our local mall embroidery shop and it looks fantastic. Wish I could post a pic. Excited to see what you come up with!

    1. Posted my comment but it was there only briefly.
      It was saying you need something whimsical or some pizzazz that room is too starchy

  37. This room does not look like you. You’re a color person and this combo looks too safe for you. I just think you’ll be back in this room a few months down the road making changes. Maybe introduce another color that compliments the blue and yellow or buy another piece of fabric that has the blue and yellow in it for the two standard pillows and then use the solid yellow with some type of trim for your front pillow.

    1. Yes Stacye.
      You asked people about your throw pillows. Actually they are just OK. Pillows are a good way to show off who YOU are. Yes your color scheme is good. A hotel room looks good too. Show your whimsical side. add some fringe around the 2 large pillows. Accent pillows should be fun. Gosh, even a polka dot, something you like. Disregard the original pillows, blue yellow etc. think outside the box. Be creative. A small bench would look good at the end of the bed if you have room , painted a different color than yellow and blue. Think girl. Be brave. Safe is boring.

  38. How about using the small pillow as an accent piece that has all the colors in the room, white, blue, yellow. Then I would add just a small hint of a completely different color like coral. I vote now to both blue fabrics.

  39. I think the stripe fabric looks best for the two pillows. For the yellow pillow, could you do some kind of geometric design in the center with the blue diamond fabric and a white with the yellow as a border? Or you could do an overall design with the yellow, blue diamond and some white fabric instead of the solid yellow. That way you can incorporate both blue fabrics and the yellow.

    The room is beautiful but I expected you to throw in some other colors and make it more colorful like the rest of your home. Great job! Can’t wait to see the finished room!

  40. I like the idea of a button throw pillow, like someone mentioned above.

    Another option could be: something embroidered in the center in white (maybe monogram? Or a version of the wall pattern? Or something?) with the white pom pom trim around it. (I’m thinking of the pom pom trim you used on the curtains in the breakfast room).

    I’m loving the room. It makes me want to learn how to sew!

  41. I started off liking the diamonds the most but went back and took another look. I ended up loving the striped fabric so much better that it surprised me. It looks great with your headboard color and is not too bold to fight with your incredible wall. I would use the scraps from the sides of your quilt to make your throw pillow and use your yellow fabric as a center stripe to keep the eyes moving throughout the room with cohesiveness.

  42. Is there any chance you have a remnant of the headboard fabric? Even just a little bit to use in a pieced pillow cover? Both of the blues you showed are very subdued. Don’t be afraid to switch the yellow to the middle pillows and then use a darker blue for the lumbar pillow.

  43. Strie because the stripe is subtle. IMO the more defined geometric diamond “fights” with the wallpaper.

  44. I like the diamond fabric better. Much more dynamic. I think I would use some cord and remnants of whatever blue fabric you choose to make a corded trim for the yellow pillow.

  45. Kristi, I think the diamond pattern is the best by far. For the smaller pillow here is a suggestion I recently did. As you are looking head in to the pillow have 2/3 of pillow in gold. 1/3 of pillow in navy. Have a diamond band approx 3 “ w separating the 2 fabrics. You could switch the navy & diamond fabrics to your preference. It pulls all together.

  46. I’m a fan of the Diamond fabric and my idea for the smaller yellow velvet is tufting so it has a Diamond pattern maybe with gold buttons???

  47. I love the diamond fabric, but feel like it competes with your wall, so I would go with the stripe fabric. For the small pillow, what about making a small cylindrical bolster pillow from the leftover white quilt and do inset ends made from the yellow velvet.

  48. I like the second pattern better, though if I am being honest, I THINK I’d prefer something without a pattern. Not entirely sure about this…

    About the yellow pillow though? How about you get some white narrow ribbon and sew it over it so it matches the wall design? (I mean, draw a flower on the fabric, and stitch the ribbon over it to recreate the design).

    1. If your cats generally claw on things line bedding, I wouldn’t recommend this one. It does have stitching that their claws would catch on.

  49. I would go with the Blue Strie fabric and add a stripe the same color as your blue throw blanket about 3 inches from the edge of one side per pillow then I would embroider or applique the same wall design onto the yellow pillow in gold or dark blue. Love how this room is coming together !!!!

  50. I prefer the strie as the diamond is a little too faded. However, I would take all the fabrics, including strips cut off from edges and make fabric strips of different widths (white, yellow, both blues) and then weave the fabrics into a grid and use that for the front. You could have one blue going one direction and the other blue going the other direction. You’ll figure it out!

  51. I like both fabrics so I’d use both on differing sides for whatever mood I was in. Perhaps a yellow pompom trim would make them pop and be fun.

  52. Kristi, I LOVE the comments, they all have so many great ideas my head is spinning! I loved the comment from De, I wish I could walk thru my house and feel what you feel in yours.
    You’re house is almost done and soooo beautiful! I have been waiting to see what you would ‘come up with in this guest room. I didn’t think I liked the quilt . . until. . you finished it, now I think it’s perfect. I look at my emails in anticipation of a new post from you just about every day. You simply amaze me and I cannot wait to see what you decide to do.