"Faux Sew" Pillows

My quest to complete my Guest Room continues.  This pillow caught my eye recently on WhisperWood Cottage and I knew that these quick and easy pillows would fit into my design plan.



My current bolster pillows were wrapped in Battenberg Lace trimmed curtains and tied with grosgrain ribbon as shown below.  So, I just unwrapped them to followed Amy's tutorial.

As part of her Burlap Week @ WhisperWood Cottage, Amy provides a detailed yet simple tutorial for her "Faux Sew" burlap bolster pillow.  Supplies include a bolster pillow, burlap scrap material, scissors, jute twine and a straight upholstery needle. 

As per Amy's tutorial, I eyeballed the amount of fabric and then rolled the fabric around the bolster pillow with the finished burlap edge overlapping the unfinished edge by approximately 2".  With my upholstery needle and twine, I wove my needle up and over the seam from end to end...really easy.

I then wove the needle through in 1" sections around the entire end of both sides allowing me to gather the ends.  

 

I can't thank Amy enough for this crafty "Faux Sew" tutorial as I am now one project closer to completing my Guest Room makeover.

Project #6 Complete!

Let me know what you think....

Pillow Talk

On Thursday, I introduced you to Live.Like.You, my new favorite blog. Well, I spent a good two hours reading recent and older posts, looking at Before & Afters and of course, perusing her shop.  It was there that I found her new line of Jill Sorensen Pillows .  These handmade, ribbon detailed pillows with feather down inserts will add a touch of understated elegance to any room and I knew I had to recreate them.

Luckily, I had recently purchased pillow covers for my daughter's room and hadn't figured out what to do with them.  So, off to Joann's to purchase ribbon and iron on adhesive tape. 

This is a NO SEW tutorial....My first step was to decide on the dimensions of the design and my 3" grid ruler was the perfect tool.  I basically folded and pinned the corners and while positioned on the pillow cover, I placed the adhesive tape underneath and ironed. 

I continued this around the corners of the pillow and voila.....

On closer inspection, you might notice that the adhesive can be seen through the white ribbon in a couple of places.  My advice, use a colored ribbon if you are using iron on adhesive, otherwise sew your ribbon on. 

I am pleased with the overall outcome and this tutorial is a really simple way to achieve a designer look on a budget....

Let me know what you think.....

Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway - Abundant Haven

 

I am thrilled and thankful that Abundant Haven is participating in this week's Etsy Inspiration & Giveaway with a $25 Gift Certificate Giveaway.



I've fallen in love with everything at  Abundant Haven .  Designer and seamstress, Susan Reinhold truly creates 'Comforts for the home and soul' and she also has a generous heart. 

Pillows-with-a-Purpose, is a line of pillows that Susan has designed that benefits 911 First Responders.  A portion of the proceeds from these pillows will help support the on-going health concerns of these brave men and women. 

This line includes the USA Flag and the HONOR patriotic patch pillows.  

   

Abundant Haven selection of pillows is endless.  Susan's Vintage Christmas Postcard Greetings Suite sets are crafted from flecked hopsack cloth are decorated with frayed patches of seasonal greetings and vintage postcard transfers.

 

Perfect for a housewarming, wedding, birthday or anniversary gift....Abundant Haven's 
personalized patch pillows celebrate special occasions and milestones for your special recipient. Choose between a frayed edge or a hemmed edge on the nameplate patch as well as a selection of base fabrics: oatmeal hopsack, light cocoa burlap, white floursack or tan/cream pinstripe.

 

Finally, Susan has created a lovely French-inspired line of black and white stockings for your French Country home!  The stocking has a white top collar combined with flecked oatmeal colored hopsack and gingham ribbon trim.  These stockings can be personalized with names or wording of your choice (love it!!!) or you can order from her selection of creative in-stock stockings.

  

So, you know what to do...visit Abundant Haven and pick out one, two or three of your favorites and then come back to Larissa Hill Designs and post a comment on your favorite designs.  Plan on spending some time in Susan's shop.....on top of everything else, you'll find ring bearer's pillows, Parisian themed designs, Batiks and so much more.

Remember, you must be a subscriber to Larissa Hill Designs to participate in the giveaway.

Lastly, attached to each Abundant Haven pillow is a vintage key charm....a reminder to "open every door" to peace and abundance in your home.  Such a lovely touch...



Repurpose Thursday - Crewel Pillow

Like many DIYer's, I love perusing flea markets, antique stores, Goodwill and the list goes on.  Shari of Swinging On A Star Creations and I have been doing this together for years.  We actually call it "Junk-tiquing".  Recently Shari and I visited one of our favorites, Trader Jacks in Pittsburgh. 

We tend to look for different things.  Shari is an artist extraordinaire and I am tend to look for pieces of furniture that I can restyle.  We often spot items for one another and generally share lots of laughs.

Well, on this visit, I spotted this great piece of vintage crewel artwork.  It was in perfect shape and a steal at $8!!!  Here it sits at my doorway after our wonderful day of junk-tiquing. 

Although it was a bit yellowed around the edges, the crewel work was in perfect shape and I just knew it would become a pillow in my family room.  Once I removed it from the frame, all I needed to do was press it and find a perfect pillow size insert. 

And here it sits in my husband's favorite chair!

Let me know what you think....and please become a follower to see what is Repurposed on Thursday!



Just A Little Something On Sunday

I've been looking for an affordable crewel pillow for some time now and I finally found one at TJMax.  I just couldn't resist it, especially at $24.99.  The design and colors were perfect for my family room.



However, it really didn't work on my dark sofa.



I have been planning on slipcovering the sofa for some time now but just haven't gotten around to it.  My temporary fix was to lighten the overall look with brighter pillows.  I used Graphics Fairy clipart on painters cloth pillows that I whipped up.  Here is the clipart I chose.  I love the soft colors and I thought the eggs complimented my new bird crewel pillow nicely.

I removed the current pillow forms and reused them.  NOW, I can't stress this enough.....make sure when using artwork with words that you print the downloaded artwork in the reverse.  I wasted two pieces of transfer paper printing the artwork backwards.....FRUSTRATING!



It then dawned on me that I could extend the use of these summer themed pillows by printing a fall themed print on the reverse. I can't wait to show you the completed Thanksgiving themed pillows closer to the holidays.

In the meantime, take a look at my sofa transformation....

Voila!!! Let me know what you think....

Monday's Market and Giveaway

I am launching Monday's Market and Giveaway today which will introduce you to Esty designers and their items.

So, here it goes....

ESTY, ESTY, ESTY...need I say more.

Decorative accent pillows add the final touch to a room.  You can mix and match designs and fabrics to create the perfect decorative mix.  Lately, french inspired and printed pillows are all the rage.  We've seen similar pillows featured in magazines, catalogs and online recently.  Most recently, I found these pillows on One Kings Lane priced from $49 - $69.



                                               

I stumbled upon these gorgeous one-of-a-kind pillow covers from Jolie Marche Inspired Vintage over the weekend on Etsy!!



 

Jolie Marche pillows are detailed and unique designs.  These vintage inspired pillows will add a pop of color, pattern and style to any room.  The pillow covers feature designs on burlap, grain sacks and linen and incorporate whimsical chandeliers, french script, birds, flowers...the list goes on. 


I am excited to announce that Jolie Marche is offering a gorgeous pillow cover as Monday Market's Giveaway.  Please visit  Kristi at http://simpleeverydayglamour.blogspot.com/ and post a comment on her blog.  Remember to leave a comment here to participate in the Jolie Marche Giveaway!!!  You must be a subscriber to participate. The winner will be announced on Saturday, September 10th.

Also venture over to her Etsy site and take a look around.  You'll fall in love with her designs, I guarantee it!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/JolieMarche 

Inspired by Jolie Marche designs, I thought I would try to reproduce similar pillows.

I used painters drop cloth that I washed, dried and ironed, ironed and ironed. I then copied two delightful pieces of calendar artwork from Flora & Fauna 2010 calendar onto Jolee's Easy Image transfer sheets.

I ironed the transfers onto the painters cloth and I sewed the pillows together.  Voila!!!

Let me know what you think....

Come back and see what I feature on next week's Monday's Market...



Baby Olivia Pillow

So many of my friends are having their first grandchildren and Amy is no different. Baby Olivia's birth was the muse for the pillow that I gave Amy in celebration of this blessed event.

Aunt Anne sent me a beautiful photo of Baby Olivia and I used it as my inspiration.

I used Photoshop to convert it to black and white and then added her name.

I then used directions from Between Naps on A Porch http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/2011/08/how-to-make-piping-for-pillow-cushion.html to make the piping.  Susan's directions are detailed and easy to follow.  I made a small pillow insert and 3 hand sewn flowers from the remaining linen fabric.

Here are all the pieces waiting to be sewn together.



Voila....here is Baby Olivia's pillow!

Let me know what you think....