Category Archives: Pillows

Souvenir Pillow

Sadly this project has been about three years in the making. Not that is was at all difficult, it probably took me 30 min to complete. So I guess pretty much it is something I had been planning to do but just never got

around to. I’m sure NONE of you guys ever do anything like that.

Many moons (aprox. 3 years) ago my dear friend Rachel went to New York. She brought back for me a cute NYC map handkerchief. Now seeing as I am not Kathleen Kelly I didn’t intend to use it as an actual handkerchief, but I knew I wanted to do something fun with it. I decided it would make a fun pillow, and it was the right color scheme to match my apartment. Perfect.

I used the measurements and basic steps from this post. But instead of having one piece of fabric I had three. I just cut two additional strips of fabric that would be the back. After hemming the edges I just sewed them up the sides, only really adding one additional step to the instructions I was following. I used a bright turquoise on the back to add a pop of color, and because that is what I had on hand. It would have also been fun with a colored print.

A simple way to not only update my couch, but also put to good use a great souvenir!

Linked up on the Southern Institute

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DIY Kid Style

I seem to always be trying to keep the kids busy while I am working on a project. Well, today they were being super cute and wanted to help so I decided, “why not?” I saw this in Real Simple magazine last week and thought it was a cute idea to let the kids add their own touch to our decorating efforts.

I have never actually made a pillow before so I headed over to handy dandy google and typed in diy pillow cover. I found a great site that was pretty straight forward.

I started by grabbing a linen fabric I had around the house. I washed and dried it and started measuring. I am did an 18″ pillow so I modified my measurements a bit. I totally can’t cut or draw a straight line so I copied a little trick from my friend over at Dream Book Design. If you haven’t checked her out- you are missing out!

I wanted to be able to wash it if I needed to so I made two rectangles for the back so it would slip off easily.

Notice my little helper?

I washed and dried my fabric and it was a bit wrinkly so I ironed the fabric quickly.

Here are my little helpers hard at work.  Sorry for all the photos, I think they are pretty cute!

I let the paint dry (about 20 minutes) and started to sew the pillows together.  I got one half done and my sewing machine broke :(   So I will have to show you the finished product when I can fix the machine.

Sorry to leave you hanging but I promise to show you the finished product soon!
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