New Pillows in our Lackluster Front Room

Our front room, though nice, is lacking desperately in color.  Since we are building a house this summer (I know I’ve said this forever, but it looks like it is really going to happen), I don’t want to put a lot of time or money into this room.  But it’s just so boring and brown!

I’ve never liked the pillows that came with the couches.   The fabric has a hamburger patty pattern.  Or lips.  Take your pick. 

Plus, they’ve frayed in such a way to resemble a cat clawing them on the edges.

We don’t have a cat.

So, I’ve started to try and bring some color into the room.  And looking at these pictures, I’m not sure I love it because the fabric is cool tones, which would work with the black portion on the couches, but not so much the brown.  Hmm…the dilemma of having black and brown couches. 

They are great spring pillows, however.  And they bring some nice, bright, happy color that is needed. 

I found the green vase at the thrift store a couple years ago that I thought would help tie the pillows in more.

For the pillows, I used THIS tutorial from Sew Katie Did, putting in my first invisible zippers.  One of them went great.  The other three are questionable, but not very noticeable, so I guess that’s something! 

I also put up a print of THIS quote.  I’m thinking the lamp shades and glass on the other lamp need to be different.  Any thoughts? 

I’d love to have a great, colorful quilt in here as well. I am not going to paint it, though that would help brighten it up.

So, let’s hear your thoughts on livening up this room!  Maybe painting the little table or doing something about the lamps? 

Pillow fabric is Nicey Jane Picnic Bouquet by Heather Bailey. 

Come visit me today at Kristen Duke Photography

I’d love if you came and visited me today on Kristen Duke’s blog for her Decorating with Portraits series! 

You’ll find out how I changed this little space to be a little brighter and up to date :). 

Stuffed Animal Net: Tutorial

If your kids love stuffed animals as much as mine, then this might be the tutorial for you.  It can be made really quickly as well, so that’s a great bonus!

We have so. many. stinkin’. adorable. cuddly stuffed animals that it’s ridiculous. 

Occasionally I can slip one into our “to-give” thrift store pile without anyone noticing.

But for the most part, my kids keep track of each and every one of their stuffed animals. 

And what you see in this net is not even half of what we own.  So I need to make another one for my boys’ room.  (and no, that pillow pet is merely for show and does not permanently stay in the net—I didn’t spend $20.00 for that dog to just be looked at!). 

The instructions are for the size net you see pictured—you can mess around with it to get the size you want, but this actually is a pretty good size that fits well in the corner.  Just make sure to adjust what you’ll need in trim and bias tape if you change the dimensions: 

-  about a 46” x 32” piece knit.  Since knit stretches more one way than the other, the more stretchy direction is the 46” side.  I know that makes me sound like an idiot because these are not the real terms to use, but that’s the only way I can explain it to you.  It doesn’t have to be that exact measurement, but make it pretty close.  The reason knit is used is because it can stretch down when you place the stuffed animals in it.  I’m sure cotton or other fabric can be used and would work great, but the stretch is beneficial in my opinion.

-about 50” trim for the front  (if you decide not to use trim, then you’ll need more bias tape so adjust accordingly)

-one package bias tape

-nails or hooks to hang the net on.  I actually ended up using nails instead of the hooks pictured below.

Take the knit and fold it in half along the 46” side and crease so you know where the middle is.  Fold one of the 32” sides to create a straight line from one corner to the middle of the 46” side, where the black dot in the picture indicates.

Cut off the excess, and repeat with the other side so you have a triangle left over.

Take the end of the bias tape and sandwich around one of the slanted sides of the triangle (not the base that’s still 46” long), making sure the more narrow side of the bias tape is on top so you will not miss a layer when sewing.  Leave about 4” at the end.  Sew the bias tape together and continue sewing along the side of the triangle but stop when you get close to the tip of the triangle. 

Once you get to the tip, you are going to sew just the bias tape for 4-5” not onto the knit.  Once you do that, create a loop as pictured, then continue sewing the bias tape onto the knit down the other slanted side of the triangle.  At this point, you have sewn the bias tape along both the slanted sides, making a loop at the top point, but the 46” edge has nothing done to it.

Take the 4” ends you left and create a loop by folding it back and sewing in place as pictured:

This is what you should have now.  One loop at each corner of the triangle.

Now take your trim and sew along the bottom 46” of the triangle.  Make sure to catch the threads onto the bias tape and backstitch a few times so it doesn’t rip with the weight of the stuffed animals.

This next step is optional, but I saw a really cute net on between the lines where she made this grocery bag out of knit and cut slits in it—I loved the look and wanted to do this on the stuffed animal net.  The slits at this point have stretched a bit but have held together fine and no stuffed animals can fit through  (I made this net 4 weeks ago!).

So if you would like to do that, I just cut 2” slits, about 4” apart in a sort of pattern on the net.  It doesn’t need to be perfect, you can measure or just eyeball it.  Depends on how much you trust your eyeballs ;). 

Before hanging, kind of measure it around a bit and maybe even tape it to see where the nails need to go—especially if you have a window near it so the outside loops will need to be closer to the middle loops so it droops more and doesn’t go so far out on the walls.  That might not make a lick of sense until you try hanging it.  What I’m saying though, is to play around with it before committing to any holes in your wall.

We’ve got to keep these little critters happy and contained.   Our kids, and the stuffed animals ;).

Yarn Christmas Trees

I saw these trees on Pretty Ditty and l.o.v.e.d. them! 

I just love how they turned out.  Aren’t they so beautiful?!  I used the same colors as she did on Pretty Ditty.  You can check out her tutorial here. 

My sister and I made these together and it was so much fun to listen to Christmas music and craft for fun, without doing a tutorial ;).  I love to share ideas, but tutorials can really wear you out! 

I’m done shopping and sewing for Christmas.  And it feels GREAT!  I feel like I can really sit back and enjoy now—my favorite part is packaging everything up to give!  How are you all coming along with the preparations?

P.S.  I don’t know that I ever thanked everyone for the sweet birthday wishes.  Thank you!  And thank you for your comments in general.  I love reading them! 

Poinsettia Pillow Tutorial

How was your Thanksgiving?!

I feel like I’ve been gone from blog land forever, since I had scheduled posts last week and then my computer broke and wasn’t fixed until last night.  I will admit that it was pretty great to be without internet for a week! 

It has snowed so much here and has been wonderful.  I hate being cold, but as long as I can snuggle up in my house with my kids and some hot chocolate, I’m in heaven!

The beginning of this month you will see more posts than later on in December, though not as many as the last couple months.  I’m just trying to crank out my ideas for the Season so that you can make them now and I can relax with my family later on.  So expect things to slow down a bit later in the month! 

After Abby from Sew Much Ado asked me to do a guest post for her Copy Cat Challenge, I looked at a lot of fun sites for inspiration.  While I was browsing I came across this fun Christmas pillow from Pottery Barn.  I’m unsure what the original cost was, since it is unavailable now, but I made it for probably under $5.00.  I love the soft colors of the pillow and how it will go with just about any Christmas décor you already have.

**I have some pillows in my front room that are about 17”.  To make the pillow covers, I just added an inch to that measurement.  I cut one piece of fabric 18” x 18”, then two pieces for the back that were 18” x 13”.  That way they overlap enough to cover the pillow.  So it’s really easy to make pillow covers!  Next time I will probably make the flower bigger or cover smaller pillows.

The fabric I used was found by the burlap in Joann.  It wasn’t called Burlap, but it’s almost like it’s just a more tightly woven form of it.  It’s got a great earthy appearance to it. 

You’ll Need:

-Measure your pillow you want to make a cover for, and cut your fabric.  See above paragraph with the ** for how to do this.

-I bought two fabric white poinsettia's at Wal-Mart for a buck a piece.  I made sure that I would be able to pull off the petals and use them.  And I made sure that I would buy it if I ruined it in the process.

-Silver bells.  (Are you singing what I’m singing?)  I used 5 on my pillow.

Oh, and I apologize for the bad lighting for the tutorial pics.  I did this in the late afternoon and the sun was going down fast!

You could choose different colors for your flowers of course!

First zig-zag or serge around all your edges.  You don’t necessarily have to do this, but the fabric I bought frayed very easily and so I didn’t want to have problems with the seams coming undone while stuffing the pillow cover.  And yep, I bought a serger!  From CSN stores.  I bought this one.  It’s one that Sabra from Sew a Straight Line owns and let me borrow from time to time.  So far I have loved it.

 

Take one of your smaller pieces of fabric and fold over the edge that will be in the middle of the pillow (in my case, it was one of the 18” sides of the 18” x 13” pieces).  Fold if over 1/4” and then 1/4” again and sew.  Repeat on the other smaller piece of fabric.

Remove the petals from the poinsettia that you have. 

Now pin the petals onto the large front piece, onto the right side if your fabric has a right side.  Just do one layer at a time. 

After pinning a layer, follow the petal line and sew onto the fabric.

 

Pin on another layer and do the same.

And another layer.

Until you are done sewing on all the petals.

Sew on the bells, however many you’d like to.

Now take the smaller pieces of fabric and lay them, right sides facing the flower, overlapping them as the next 3 pictures show.

Sorry, I forgot the picture on this next step, but just pin and sew around the outside.  Leave the middle seams open.  Clip the corners and turn right side out.

Stuff your pillow in and that’s it!  Very easy and quick project.