Just Another Hang Up: Pillow...

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Pillow...

I'm in the painting mode these days. It seems like whenever I get a paintbrush in my hand, it doesn't come out until all the rooms in my house have had a make-over. (That's a slight exaggeration.) My husband tells our friends that we have lost square footage in our home since we moved in because I have painted the walls so many times. He may be right. As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing like a freshly painted room. And, as I keep reminding my husband, paint is cheap! A bucket of paint and you can change the whole look of a room.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I was going to tell you about a pillow I made today. In between applications of paint, I made a pillow. I was totally inspired by these pillows at Jesse Kate Designs. Aren't they beautiful? I should have followed the instructions she included, but that would have been a first for me and would have made it far too easy. Instead I changed the dimensions a bit and added a couple more flowers. I think I like her dimensions better. Live and learn.

I've made flowers like this for my wristlets, but this time I used a chiffon fabric. The transparency of the petals remind me of poppies. Love them.

The floral fabric on the left {in the photo above} and the "art deco" fabric in the middle I bought a few weeks ago for a wristlet, but I decided to use them for this pillow instead. In fact I just ordered about 5 more yards, from Fresh Squeezed Fabrics, of the floral to make some draperies for the bedroom I started repainting today. This pillow will be in that room as well.

Instead of using burlap, like the pillow that inspired me, I used a natural colored muslin. I love the look of burlap, but the scratchy, fiberish feel of it drives me nutty. I think I'm allergic to the stuff. I love the look of this natural muslin. I used it on the front and back of the pillow.

Did you notice the little ruffle on the back of the pillow? It's strange when you like the back of the pillow as much as the front, but the back of this one has a lot of appeal for me. I love ruffles, but, as you might know, I often use a ruffle to hide something and this is no exception.

This ruffle hides the opening on the back of the pillow. I always try to incorporate an opening to my pillows so the cover can be laundered. Then I make a pillow and insert it in the cover. I use velcro for the closure.