A Secret Sewing Project

A couple of weeks ago I shared this photo over on the Facebook page and hinted at a sewing project I was going to be working on.

Some of you guessed that maybe it was going to be a fall quilt.  I sure wish I knew how to quilt!

Then a few days later I shared this photo and told you that I had the next step of the project completed, but that it would be a couple of weeks before I could share the whole thing.

Well, now I can share.

I was working on making fall themed pillow covers!  I made 13 in all and the reason I couldn't share them yet was because they were going to be gifts.  In my last post I told you that I'm on a little vacation in Tennessee with my mom and her sisters this week, and 8 of these covers were coming with me to be given out to my aunts, my mom, and two of my cousins.  Whenever they get together like this they have what they call Scarecrow parties and gifts are given out all around (the scarecrow brings the gifts instead of Santa).  : )

I decided the cheapest most cost effective thing I could give would be something I had made.  And since I have TONS of scraps leftover from my shower curtain business I decided to use some of them up and make pillow covers.  I made 2 more that won't be pictured here because they were Christmas ones and I'll share them another time.  I also made one for myself and one for my sister.  The total cost of 13 pillow covers was a whoppin' $8...and I still have plenty of fall fabric left over to make even more if I feel so inclined!

I was a busy bee trying to get these all completed before my trip, plus keeping up with making my shower curtain orders.  We pretty much didn't see the top of the dining room table for about 2 weeks, lol!

Let's take a look at what I worked so hard on.

Some of the covers have a pumpkin shape on them and some have a fall leaf.  I used a variety of fabric styles since I don't know the decorating tastes of my extended family members.  The pumpkin up there at the top though, I made that one with my mom in mind.  She wants to change her living room decor over to a lighter color palette of greens and blues and do a coastal theme.  So I made that one to coordinate with her upcoming decor change.  I love the combination of the 3 different patterns, but yet they all coordinate.  I don't know if you can see it well enough or not, but the aqua one has little white polka dots on it.  So sweet.  :)

The other ones I made were more traditional fall colors and patterns.  After I cut the patterns out of the fabric, I then used a spray adhesive on the backs of them and followed the directions for a temporary bond.  That allowed me to move them around and get them centered just right, but yet it held them in place strong enough to allow me to get them stitched all around.  I purposely left the very edges unstitched so that when they got washed they would rough up in a cute rustic sort of way.

I love the paisley and flannel pumpkin!  I made two of those, one for me and one to give away.  I already had two pillow covers that were two different style fall leaves that were done in the paisley fabric, so then I made the pumpkin to go with them.  I wanted it to coordinate, but not be completely matchy matchy.  I think the addition of the flannel pattern helped achieve that.  It's a warm olive green color that matches the green in the paisley fabric.

So....13 covers in all.  Eight were made to give away as gifts, 1 I made for myself, 2 were Christmas ones to be shared later, I doubled up on one of these patterns and made one for my sister....that accounts for 12.  So what about the 13th one?

Well, remember in my last post I told you to be sure not to miss this post?  

That's because.......

SURPRISE!!!

I'm doing an unannounced giveaway of the last pillow cover!!

I made two of these sweet little pumpkin designs and I decided to give one away to one of my faithful readers.  I appreciate you guys so much and I'm so thankful you've stuck with me even though I haven't been a very regular blogger these past few months.

I didn't announce it anywhere and I don't plan to because I want only my faithful readers to be on this.  I don't want any freeloaders hopping over here just because they think they can get something for free and then I never hear from them again.  This time its just for you guys.

All you have to do is leave me a comment at the end of this post and you'll be entered!  Be sure I have an email address to contact you at in case you're the winner.

This giveaway is for the pillow cover only, you'll have to supply your own 14" pillow insert.  It's an envelope style closure, and its made out of drop cloth.  They're easily removed and very washable.  

I apologize for all the wrinkles.  I was running out of time and light to get these pictures done so that I could schedule this post before I left and I didn't take the time to iron them, but you get the idea.

There's just one thing we gotta get straight......I don't claim to be much of a seamstress at all, I can accomplish basic things, but I'm certainly not a professional.  SO....if you happen to be the winner you have to promise me that you won't make fun of my lack of skills....mmmmm-kay?  Just remember, it's the thought that counts and I made this with love for my faithful readers.  : )

So just leave me a comment below and include your email address and in a week or so I'll do a random drawing and let you all know who won!  

Happy Fall Y'all!

 *This giveaway has now ended*

                                                               

Fall Pillow Cover Tutorial

  We've had our couches for about 5.5 years now I think.  For a long time I loved how the plaid pillows looked with the gingham fabric and had no desire to change them up.  But...then after a couple of years I began to tire of the same ol' same ol' all the time.  At some point I bought some coordinating floral fabric and covered one of the pillows using basically just a gift wrapping technique held together by fabric tape. (Mad skills right there!)  Later on, I added a smaller pillow that I had made a faux grain sack pillow cover for.

But I what I really wanted was a set of covers that I could slide over the pillows and change up for the different seasons.  With 2 kids, and a dog who loves to lay on top of the pillows to sleep, they get dirty quick.  The idea of being able to easily take them off to wash them really appealed to me.  Plus, if you just have covers they can pack flat in a storage box and take up no room at all.  Trying to pack away a tub full of pillows that are just for fall or just for Christmas takes up way too much valuable space.

  This is something I've been wanting to do for over a year, so finally I just went for it.

I found a "before" picture and cropped it down so you could see what the pillows looked like.  By themselves they're just fine, but add in a vintage wool plaid blanket with fall colors and it began to clash horribly (or look kinda Christmas-y when you're going for an autumn look).

A few hours of sewing later and I had this.

Ahhhhh....so much better!   A lovely change.

Now let me share how I made these, because I'll be the first to tell you that I have very minimal sewing skills.  I wasn't about to attempt anything that needed a zipper or a button hole sewn in.  But these envelope style covers are as easy peasy as it gets I think.

I followed {this video tutorial} for the cover itself.  It's explained very well and SO simple to do.  I actually didn't sew it completely at first though.  I did the hem on the short ends and then sewed my leaf pattern on before I finished sewing the cover.

For the leaf, I printed out an image with the shape I wanted.  It actually wasn't quite big enough so I ended up tracing around it to make it bigger.  Then I laid it over the wrong side of the fabric and traced it pushing down firmly so that it would leave an imprint on the fabric.  Every few inches I would carefully lift the paper and trace the impression left on the fabric with a pencil.  (There may have been an easier way to do this, but I couldn't think of one at the time.)

Here you can see the pencil outline.  I edited the picture so that it would stand out more.  After that I cut out the shape, laid my tan fabric over the pillow so that I could see where to position the leaf, and then pinned it in place.  (After the fact, I realized that it would have been much easier if I had sprayed the back of the leaf with some spray adhesive so that it held in place smoother and more tightly.)

Then I got to sewing.

You know those pictures you see on Pinterest of dreamy craft rooms that are as big as my entire living room and kitchen combined?  You know the ones that have a scrapbooking table, a sewing table, and tons of adorable organization going on?  You know, something like this...

(source)

Yeah....that's not mine.  I could only wish for something like that.  Here, on the other hand, is my "craft room."

Yep, that's reality folks.  We had to eat supper in the living room that evening.

Anywhoozy...I sewed the leaf on leaving a space at the edge so that the fabric would become raggedy after washing.  I also clumsily sewed some "veins" on the leaf as well.  I've never attempted anything more than a straight stitch before so this whole leaf sewing thing was a new adventure for me!

I followed the same tutorial for the smaller brown checked pillow, just using different measurements.  I added the strip of tan before sewing the cover shut just like I did with the leaf, and left the edges of it raggedy as well. 

 I assumed I was going to have to wait awhile until I could get to a big craft store to find cute buttons to put on it, BUT on a whim I decided to just check and see what our Walmart in town had and low and behold they had these adorable buttons!

Don't they look like little crocheted doilies?  SO cute I tell ya!!

I have enough fabric left that I plan on making another leaf cover for a 2nd pillow, only using a maple leaf design this time around.

 If you've been wanting to attempt pillow covers, but aren't sure because of a lack of sewing skills or some other such fear, I'm here to say, "If I can do it, you can do it."  Just go for it!  Mine aren't perfect by any means.  Some of my stitches are a little wobbly, and my envelope flap actually ended up the wrong direction, but you probably wouldn't have known that if I hadn't told ya.  And neither will anyone else if you make some.  Find some cheap clearance fabric and do a practice run with that first if you need to, but just go for it.  It really is quite simple and you'll be incredibly happy with the new look and so proud of that fact that you made it!

If you'd like to see the rest of my fall decor you can see that {here}.

SEW Easy "Grain Sack" Pillow

For a long time now I have been wanting a grain sack type pillow.  I'm sure we've all seen the ones sold at Pottery Barn for $89 dollars each....gorgeous pillows - not a gorgeous price.  During my time in "Blogland" I've come across tutorials for faking grain sacks and I stored the info away for a "someday" project. 

Then a couple of months ago I came across this old laundry bag (I'm assuming it's probably a canvas type material) at my neighbor's yard sale for .50.  I knew it would be the perfect material to do a faux grain sack pillow.  A few days later I found the pillow form at Goodwill for .99. 

BUT....I held off and held off because I was intimidated at the thought of trying to sew the actual cover.  I felt like I didn't have the adequate skills to make it.  With two small children and a dog, I knew I wanted the cover to be removable so it could easily be washed.  But I haven't a clue how to sew a button hole or put in a zipper.  Other than that, I didn't know what to do.

Then one day I was browsing through some links I had saved and came across this one, The Five Minute Cushion.  I did not even remember ever seeing this video clip or saving the link. But there it was, a super easy solution to my pillow problem.

So I got to work cutting up the laundry bag, using painter's tape and craft paint to make my design (I mixed my own color using red, brown, and a bit of black).

 I wanted to personalize it more than what a plain Pottery Barn type pillow would be, and knew I wanted to add numbers to it.  When I told my hubby this (he used to work at a feed mill/distributor) he explained the code system of numbers and letters they used.  So I followed that same code using numbers/letters that are meaningful to me.

I used my scrapbooking stamps and adhered them together so I could get it somewhat straight and lined up.  I wasn't worried about it being absolutely perfect, old grain sacks never are, but I didn't want it completey whopper-jawed either.

I provided the link for the tutorial (trust me, SO easy) so I didn't bother taking pictures of everything, but here it is all sewn up and ready to insert the pillow.

And here is my finished product. 

(After the paint had dried, I put it through a wash/dry cycle to fade the paint even more and give it a nice soft/worn look.)

The washing made some of the numbers and letters indistinguishable, but that's okay, it just adds to the old/worn look.

Doing it this way makes it sort of an envelope for your pillow and gives you a flap on the back for easy removal.

The link describes this as a "Five Minute" project.  It definitely took me a lot longer than that with all the painting/washing/and 2nd guessing myself because of my limited sewing skills.  But, the fact remains that in the end it was quite simple to make and I'll definitely do it again!





The fabric cost me .50 (I still have the other half to use for another pillow, so technically the cost was .25), and the pillow form was .99.  So for $1.25 I have the super cute "grain sack" pillow I've always wanted.

Linking up to:

Creative Bloggers Party Hop - Homemaker on a Dime
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday - Coastal Charm
Whatever Goes Wednesday - Someday Crafts
Thrifty Thursday - Thrifty Decorating