i spy: diy pillow talk, part two..

Hello camp1899 diy’ers…here we go again! When I received the latest Pottery Barn Catalog I immediately ripped the page out with the beautiful poinsettia pillow….I couldn’t WAIT to try and copy it for much much less.  (I’ve caught the pillow bug, can you tell??)

You will need:
1 yard of off white fleece (You will only need 1/2 yard, I bought more for an additional pillow), 2 yd’s “look-a-like” Belgian linen background fabric, 1 Embroidery thread of your choice (I used Ecru), my cost: approx $10 (I used two 50% off coupons for the fabric!…Gotta love JoAnne’s!)

First I used paper lunch bags to trace my petals, it was pretty darn easy to trace the sizes out and lay them together to make a flower and I used the picture as my guide. The flower was three layers, each layer with five petals. I then pinned my pattern onto the fleece…I doubled up the fabric because I am of course making Christmas presents! The inspiration pillow’s petals are definitely not flat..I used a wooden hoop to help me with the simple embroidery and boy did it help! I peeled back the flowers as I went (to make sure the stitching went far enough to the center of the pillow).

And one of the BEST parts of this DIY is that I was able to use jingle bells from my wedding eleven years ago! And yes.. I am surprised the bells don’t have rust on them. I saved the box thinking I’d find use for the extras  someday…I am so glad I did!

The EASIEST way to make a pillow back.. no buttons and no zipper. For a finished 18in x 18in pillow measure two 19x 13in pieces, seam one end of the rectangle and overlap the pieces to make a simple pocket. You just squeeze the pillow inside, BAM! The only mistake I made in this whole process was to not overlap my back pieces enough. My first pillow insert smooshed out through the two pieces and I had to remake the back. Rule of thumb: Overlap more than you think you need to! As you can see, my overlap was a little over 5 inches.

The finished products!

Approximate cost of all handmade pillows: $70 ($10-15 each and I reused my inserts)
Approximate cost of 7 new retail pillow covers: $350
(If you figure buying a new PotteryBarn pillow cover comes in at around $48) Huge savings!!!

I love love love my new holiday line up and I hope you are inspired to make some of your own! You might find yourself unable to stop…guess what everyone is getting for Christmas this year??? SHSHSHSHSHSHSSSHHHHH………..

P.S.
Which one’s are your favorites? I’m having trouble deciding which ones will make the best gifts…..
Thanks for your help!  Merry Christmas!!!

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i spy: diy pillow talk

all those handy with sewing (or wanting to learn) a big diy on throw pillows… this is one of those diy’s that I wouldn’t have a chance at.. me & sewing (not so much). i had to make a pair of pants in high school home ec and they were not pretty. thanks for sharing lindsey!!

HO HO HO Happy Holidays my 1899-er DIY’ers!

Ok, I am officially pillow OBSESSED. Thanks to Pinterest I have been very inspired this holiday season to make my own pillow covers and save some moolah in the process. So here we go… I started with two 24in x 24in pillows in the cross pattern that I have been admiring for awhile.

Supplies: 1.5 yards “look-a-like” Belgian linen and 2 yards blue wool
Measure your background fabric 25in x 25x to allow for a 1/2 in seam. I then cut two 4 in strips and centered them on the fabric square. I decided it would be simple and fast to simply pin the fabric on top and use my basket stitch to sew the two pieces together. This is a great beginner pillow, only takes basic sewing skills, easy and best of all.. immediate results!

I used the same technique for the deer pillow. I simply cut a large square and a free drawn outline of a deer, pinned them together and went to town! The background fabric is a chic wool herringbone, the middle is a plain grey wool and the deer is a light grey corduroy. Grey love! I left a little edge as I sewed the deer on top to allow for some natural fraying. (The hooked wool Santa pillow was was a gift from my Aunt Val…but it could be copied with this technique! The background throw blanket is suiting wool and I just hemmed the ends…how much do you LOVE this plaid!! The “S” pillow was cut freehand, I pinned the plaid to some khaki twill fabric and cut a border around it, after I sewed it to the red wide-wale cordouroy I frayed the edges. It took me awhile, but it was definitely worth it!

The BEST part was when my husband saw them on the couch for the first time. He noticed them immediately (I really can’t sneak anything past the man) and exclaimed, “Where did you buy these!?” I passed the husband test! …Oh yea, now we’re cookin!!!

Happy Happy Holidays my fellow Camp 1899′ers!
xo Lindsey

(part two.. coming next..)

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Tagged: diy craft blog, diy sewing, diy throw pillows, i spy, pinterest, swiss army cross pillow *please & thank you* link back to us if you re-post something you see here. Comment »