Pillow Talk

Okay people, I think that I may be a bit of a sewing/design genius...well maybe not, but last night I made three of the most beautiful pillows I have ever seen! Haha! I drew some sketches up a few days ago of what I wanted them to look like, and after I finished sewing them yesterday evening, I surpassed even my own expectations. And---get this---they only cost about $15 dollars...and that's only because I had to buy the pillow forms and a few pieces of trim. I re-purposed some old robin's egg blue curtain fabric, made use of some sewing supplies I already had on hand, and used some lovely white antique buttons that used to be my great-grandmother's. All of that, combined with the espresso colored lace and rick-rack that I bought, turned into something simply charming! (I would post pics, but my new camera [a Nikon] just wasn't cutting it and we returned it...so I'll be researching what kind of camera to get, and until then I will just leave you in anticipation!).

The first pillow I made is a 14x14 inch pillow. I cut out a silhouette of a cute little bird, sitting on a leafed branch out of dark brown felt and applied that to the front of my pillow fabric. Then after some hemming and such, I sewed all my fabric pieces together using the rick-rack as my trim around the edge of the pillow. This was a bit tricky, as I have never sewn any sort of piping or anything around a pillow...heck, this was my first time to even make a pillow! But, after snipping off the last lingering thread, I turned the pillow right side out, and I was filled with such satisfaction! It was just what I wanted, and more!

The second pillow (my favorite) is a 12"x16". I designed it to where the opening is in the front, two pieces of fabric overlap to create sort of what a button down shirt looks like. And then, I used 4 vintage buttons, along with the brown rick-rack to "close" or button up the pillow. I sewed a single piece of espresso-colored lace down the front opposite the buttons, covering up the ends of the "hooks" made out of rick-rack to wrap around the buttons and keep the pillow closed. The total effect is really beautiful, and it looks very vintage. I like this one because of the added fact that the buttons used to be my great-grandma, Grace's!

The third pillow is much like the second, but without the buttons and with a piece of rick-rack also sewn alongside the lace. It is simple, yet stunning and it compliments the whole set quite beautifully. I can't wait for my new bedding to come in so that I can display my pillows properly! Our new bedding is a lovely white matelasse with matching pillow shams. I am going to buy (or make) two medium sized espresso brown pillows to put in front of the white shams, and then I'll place my 3 (gorgeous!) robin's egg blue pillows in front. The whole package should be as pretty as a picture!

I really can't wait to show you guys pictures of what I've been creating. I've also made a few other things for around the house, but will talk about those things later...I need to make the most of Johnathan's nap time right now, and go do some stuff around here! I'll be back though, don't you worry! ;)