Sometimes impulse sewing stems from impulse knitting. I haven’t had a good knitting project in a while, and I had some leftover yarn I really liked, and I wanted something quick and satisfying. And that combination of factors led to this cable knit pillow sham.
So today I’m sharing the pattern for this pillow, along with instructions to sew it into a sham. And if you don’t happen to be a knitter, you could skip the knitting part of this project and just get some sweater knit fabric.
Ok, here’s what you need for a pillow that ends up approximately 12 inches tall by 22 inches wide. But don’t get hung up on the size – you can make yours larger or smaller.
- Yarn that knits up at 2-3 stitches per inch. I used some cotton that I had handspun, and I doubled strands of leftover worsted weight cashmere yarn for the blue sections. You could use pretty much any yarn you like for this – even more than 2 yarns.
- Size 13 needles
- Cable needle
- Fabric – about 1 yard. You’ll need to cut one piece to match the size of the knit piece, and two pieces for the back of the sham, each of which should be the same height as the first piece and two thirds of the length.
- Pillow insert. You can make your own with broadcloth and fiberfill, just cut the broadcloth to size, sew around the edges, leaving a hole to stuff. Stuff and sew the hole closed.
This is a loosey goosey kind of project. I’ll give you precisely what I did, but if you have more or less yarn/fabric/gauge, it’s totally OK. Save making your pillow insert until the end, and go with whatever size knit you end up with.
Cast on 30 stitches with main yarn (blue in this case).
Row 1 & 3: K 18, P 1, K4, P1, K6
Rows 2, 4, 6: P6, K1, P4, K1, P18
Row 5: K 18, P1, Place 2 sts on cable needle and hold to front of work, K 2 from left needle, K2 from cable needle, P1, K6
Repeat rows 1-6 three times, then switch to contrasting color. Repeat pattern 6 times in contrast yarn, then switch back to main yarn and repeat pattern three times. Bind off.
Block the knit piece and then baste it to backing fabric around the edges. Then use these instructions to sew it into a pillow sham.
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