I know it's only one day, but it's a day all about love! I wanted just a few pillows for the porch and breakfast room, but I couldn't find any. So I decided to make some. They're so simple and quick to make, and there is very little sewing involved. If you can sew in a straight line, you can make these. Here's what you'll need:
- pillow forms of your choice
- burlap
- red felt or pre-cut felt hearts
- glue gun
- snaps
- buttons
Start by cutting 2 pieces of burlap, 2" wider than your pillow form and 4" longer. Now sew them together on 3 sides, leaving 1 end open. Since I am using burlap, there is no wrong side to the fabric. If you are using a printed fabric, you will sew the 3 sides with the wrong (unprinted) side facing out. You have just made a very basic pillow case. Now turn the pillowcase right side out.
The pillow case you have should be the right size for the pillow form to fit into it with about 3"-4" left open on one end. Now it's up to you to decide how you want to decorate. I centered a big red heart on one of my pillows, and a straight line of little hearts across the center of my other pillow. Since these pillows are only going to be used for a week or so, I chose to glue the hearts on with my glue gun. I would not recommend doing this to a pillow that will get a lot of use. If you do glue it, be sure to put a piece of cardboard between the 2 layers before you start so that you don't glue the 2 sides of the pillow to each other. Also, if you are centering the design, center it from where the pillow will be closed, not from the entire length.
After you've finished attaching your decoration, insert the pillow form so that you can decide where to put the snaps to keep it closed. Mark the spot for the snap, remove the pillow form, and hand stitch the snaps into place. Now you can hand sew a button on the outside of the pillow to cover the snap. Insert the pillow form again and snap the snap and you're done!
You might be able to tell that I pulled some of the threads from the end to make a fringe. Super easy to do with burlap and I think it makes it look a little more finished. Go ahead and give it a try. The materials are very inexpensive, and it's a cute way to bring in a little Valentine cheer.
I'll keep you posted...
Lynn
