Pillow vs. Pillow

With the addition of a new white slipcover to the living room chair (I'll post that later), I decided it was necessary to create a new pillow cover because the old one (zebra print) wasn't working anymore. I was also inspired for the change by the fact that I bought a new pillow at Pottery Barn last week.

I wanted the green one below, The Jute Braid Pillow by PB to go with the new one I bought. But, at $40, I didn't think this solid print pillow was worth it. I figured I could try to make my own. Here was the challenge.




With an idea in mind I headed over to the fabric store to seek my materials. What did I come out with? Burlap and a green embroidered linen. What did I make? Check it:

Hey Burlap, nice to see you again.
I cut out enough to cover the piping stuff to go around the pillow.

Here it is all bundled up in burlap.

FYI: you're going to end up being covered in burlap threads

Here is my fabric measured and cut.

I inserted the burlap underneath the edges before I began to sew.

The result is this happy pillow with it's new PB friend.

Who do you think is the winner? I may be biased, but I kinda like mine better. =) Oh, total spent on materials: $5!

FYI: linens are 60% off at Joanns right now.

One Way or Another

I had a little bit of a shopping expedition today. Not so much for myself, but in preparation for the baby shower. There were a couple last minute things I still needed to pick up. I was mostly looking for prizes for the games, but of course, I couldn't resist taking a peek where I probably didn't need to enter. Really; how could I avoid not going into Ross?

If you're not familiar with this chain, the concept of the store is brand names at low prices. They purchase inventory from stores that perhaps have too much of one thing and then sell in for half the price. It's a random assortment of things, so it's not for those seeking a particular object at that moment. I guess it's like Home Goods. I wish I had one of those close by.

Anyways. I bought a few things; a cutie ikat patterned dress for $8(I'm thinking for Saturday), a pretty orange glass jar for $7, and two pillows, one at $6 and the other for $10 (both with a down fill). Now, I need some advice. I'm leaning one way, but I need the extra push to make the decision final.

I've got two contenders for the prize of being the new pillow on the giant chair in our bedroom. Here they are with their best fighting mugs on.

Pillow Number One: Mr. GP, graphic print...if you're nasty.

GP says, "Hey ladies, you see some rectangles in here? Nope, I've only got diamonds for you."

GP says, "Come and get up on this girls."

Pillow Number Two: Mr. HATE...AKA: Hot Around the Edges.

Mr. Hate says, "I'm the perfect mix of caliente and picante."

Mr. Hate says, "Ladies, I've got it all. Silk, hotness, and I'll full down there.
If you get what I'm sayin'."

I have to say, those boys are looking a little too brown for me in these pictures. This Brown girl really only likes White boys. So perhaps I don't want either. I do really like Mr. Hate because he's got that leafy pattern that compliments the euros on the bed and he's got some orange. I love me some orange. Or, I could do both?

Ugh. I don't know. What do you think?

Pillow Talk: Part 2

In case you haven't noticed; I love pillows. Give me some fabric, I'll whip you up a puffy one in about 5 minutes. Accent or large euro size pre-made pillows are way too expensive for my taste. I rather buy myself some nice affordably priced down pillow inserts (they have great ones at IKEA) and them make a cover. My tastes are always changing and I like being able to change the color scheme quickly and without having to spend too much money. If you head over to your local home store, an accent pillow will cost you. How about at least $20 for a small 20 x 20? Poop on that.

I have a quick technique of making pillow covers. I take a piece of fabric large enough for my pillow insert, fold one end down a bit and sew across. Then, I fold the whole piece of fabric into thirds, making sure that the nice sewed end is under the un-sewn end. You want to make sure that when folded it is still the size you need to fit your pillow insert. Also, you're folding it so it's inside out. Finally, sew across the two open un-sewn ends. Flip it inside out and you've got a cover. You can slip your insert in easily and remove it whenever you like. Confusing? I wish I had pictures. Next time I'll try and remember.

On Sunday I decided to tackle something slightly different; a tufted pillow. I started with an plain old insert (not down), a LARGE needle, a button covering kit from Joanns, fabric, and elastic.

What I came up with was this:

Front 

Back

I threaded the flat elastic ribbon through the large needle, added a large button to the end before I tied it off and then ran it through the entire pillow. It was sorta hard work because I had to have enough strength to hold the needle and push it through to the other side in the premarked and measured dot I had on the other side. Then, I had to add the other button and get the elastic as stretched as possible while holding the button and tying a knot at the same time in order to create the tuft. But, it worked and I love it. I can't wait to get my new fabric and the crewell fabric pillows made in order to complete the new bed look.

Pillow Talk

Oh my. It's been almost a week since I last made an entry. Poop on me. Yet, I have a good excuse. I've been hard at work at coordinating a couch drop off, yanking a ton of weeds, drinking beers while watching "The Wrestler" in a movie theater (Yes, drinking beers in an actual theater) with the hubs and friends, making new curtains for the little bro's room, re-decorating the hubby's office (work in progress, pics later) lots of work at work, and....making plus pillows!

I've also decided to paint the retrofab chair. I was initially hoping to go with a RL color, but couldn't find what I was imagining. I ended finding up my match with Behr "Leisure." Yup, I'll be sittin' in my retrofab chair gettin' my leisure on. Perhaps wearing a leisure suit??

Oh crappers. You can't see the leisure. It's basically a yummy dijon color.

Anyhoo, back to the pillow talk. I was at Michael's crafts a while back and one of the books on their shelf caught my eye; a pillow making book. Fun! I flipped through the pages and suddenly, love. Why don't I just share the result of my book lovin'.

I apologize for the crappy lighting. I made two like the one in the back too.

The dumb flash makes the details of my fishy-like pillow disappear. No bueno! The fabric is this luxurious velvety thing that has a bubble design in the fabric grain. LOVE! The brown one in the back is a lovely linen. Yeah, so count this...1 yellow fishy pillow + 2 brown lovely linen pillows + 1 more striped pillow to create symmetry = lots of sewing, cutting, measuring, and 4 fab pillows!

ooohhh, ahhh.

Here's the so-so how too. My initial plan was to photo every step, but that wasn't very successful because I always end up getting way too into the whole process and forget to actually take pics. Oh well. Here's what I got. Take it or leave it.

Step one: Select a fabric that won't fray when cut with scissors and not sewn. Suede and this velvety one do the trick. 

Step two: Create an outline pattern on the back part of your fabric using a pencil or fabric pencil. I used a carpet cleaner spray bottle for the shape.

Step three: Cut out what seems like a gazillion scallops.

Step four: align the cut out scallops so they overlap and then pin them into place on a separate piece of the same fabric. 

Step five: sew each layer onto the fabric. Make sure to sew each layer so that the layer on top will cover the thread line. 

Step six: Cut the fabric out depending on the pillow size you want. Mine is 12 x 18. 

Step seven: Cut out the fabric for the back part and then sew it into place. I overlap mine so that I have an easy way of taking out the pillow. 

Here's some images to help.

Get this: total for 4 fab pillows = about $20 buckaroos in fabric. Not bad when you think about how one good pillow costs about $24 on its own. Oh, the pillow inserts; I scored big time. The hubby and I found this amazing store where almost everything costs $5! I'm not even kidding. The pillows had this great silk dupioni striped fabric as a cover. Alas, the color did not work with our whole scheme going on here. Zipper open,  super soft down pillow insert out-time for a new cover. Yay! 

Speaking of sewing. If you think you can't do it, you can. It's just a little practice. I've been doing it for a long time, so it's a breeze for me, but I am dealing with an antique of a sewing machine. Seriously, I'll have to take pictures. It's ancient and it weighs a ton! I think a new sewing machine may be in the horizon (hint for hubby: just because you love me gift??).