Tutorial: Penrose Pillows – using PBS Brushstrokes fabric

Last month I received some happy mail – a small bundle of fabric from Paintbrush Studio Fabrics. They sent me some from their collection Brushstrokes and a Painter’s Palette solid in Ebony as part of their sew-cial program. I set out to make one of my favorite patterns – the Penrose triangles. I made two pillows. This tutorial has instructions to make the Penrose triangle panel. You can finish it into a pillow or a bag or a mini quilt.

Penrose Triangle
Finished size: 20.5″ X 20.5″

Material list:
Light fabric (yellow): one fat eighth (9″ X 20″) or 1/8 yard.
Medium fabric (orange): one fat eighth or 1/8 yard.
Dark fabric (blue): one fat eighth or 1/8 yard.
Background: 1/3 yard. (This is for the top only)
Backing: about 22″ X 22″ square.
Batting: about 22″ X 22″ square.
Tool required: Sidekick triangle ruler or similar ruler that helps you cut equilateral triangles and half equilateral triangles.

Cutting Instructions:
1. From each of the light, medium and dark fabrics, cut one 3″ X WOF strip (if using yardage) or two 3″ X 20″ strips (if using fat-eights).
2. Stack the three strips right side facing up and start cutting triangles using the sidekick ruler. See figure. Cut 15 triangles from each color.
3. Cut three 3″ X WOF strips of background fabric.
4. Fold one 3″ strip of background in half, wrong sides together. Cut one equilateral triangle like the previous step and 6 pairs of half-equilateral triangles. See figure below.
5. From the remaining background strips, cut two 8″ X 3″ rect (A), two 6.5 X 3″ rect (B), two 4.5 X 3″ rect (C), two 3.5 X 3″ (D), and two 18.5″ X 3″ rect (E).
6. Cut one 2″ X WOF strip of background fabric. Sub cut into two 2″ X 20.5″ rect (F)

Construction:
1. Layout all the pieces using the diagram above. A design wall or board is very useful while sewing this project. It is easy to get the pieces and their orientation mixed up. We will be piecing each column separately and then joining the columns.
2. Join the triangles in each column. Simply place one triangle over the other and sew. Press seams open. Join the triangles first, then the half-eq triangles, and then the rectangles. Note that the columns are not all of equal length. This is because the rectangles A-D are not exact. My measurements are slightly longer than needed. We will trim them to size after joining the columns.
3. Join the columns, matching the points on the triangles. See figure below for how to match points. Pass a pin through the intersection of the triangles on one column with the intersection on the other. When sewing, make sure you sew at the exact point where you pinned.
4. When all columns are sewn, Trim them all equal to the shortest columns – the second and third. It should be about 18″.
5. Sew the strips F to the top and bottom. Trim the entire piece to 20.5″ to 20.5″.

Finishing:
The top is done at this point. I sewed a 20.5″ X 20.5″ square to the finished top for the back of the pillow. I layered with batting and backing and simply quilted with straight lines. I finished the pillows by sewing a zipper to the bottom.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Please let me know if you try this and if you have any questions.