pillow talk

We spent the past weekend in "the dred" with MargeCat and TNort and had a great time.

I had to get a little ghetto there for a minute because the rest of this post is going to be about crafts - but the dred is a.k.a. Edlred, PA, Kyle's hometown, and M-C and TN are my awesome parents in law, for those who don't know.

Ok, back to original subject. Up too early this morning, can't focus. Margie and I took a detour on the way to dinner to JoAnn's for bedroom decorating inspiration. We ended up placing an order for curtain fabric and bringing home some coordinating fabric to make pillows. Here is the step-by-step (oh, baby! sings NKOTB's Joey in his best falsetto) process:

1. Choose fabric. Here is a selection of the fabrics we chose, against a brown silk very similar to our bedspread and the paint chip of the wall color. It's actually a little darker and greener than it appears here.

(Sorry, technicial difficulty...I'll upload picture later if possible)

2. Watch mother in law measure and cut fabric to proper size - a few inches larger than circumference of pillow to allow for the puffiness of the filling. (you could also do this yourself if you are in fact the crafty type). You can use sharp scissors or this neat roller thingy with a really sharp wheel blade. I understand it's usually used for quilting. Be sure to use a mat underneath so you don't scratch the table.

3. Put two pieces of the same size fabric together, nice sides facing in. Sew straight lines around three edges, keeping track of how far in from the edge you sewed in case you need to fix it later. When you're done, turn it right-side out and try it on the pillow.




4. Re-do as many times as necessary to get a nice, snug fit...we re-did about 4 times! The pillow looks much nicer and more tailored if it's just the right fit and not too loose. You may also have to kind of shove the pillow around in there to get it to fit in the corners nicely.




5. Right-side out, place over the narrow end of the ironing board and iron the seams nice and flat. Insert pillow and get ready for the penultimate (yes! People seem to find that word impressive) step.


6. Hand sew the last side of the pillow with a thread that is very close in color to the fabric. If you want to get fancy-nancy you could put a zipper here, but we're not too fancy.

The neck roll pillow is not quite done yet. That is the advanced lesson!

7. Put your pillows on the bed and admire!

Thanks, Margie, for the lesson! Next addition to the bedroom: drapes by Margie in tan linen with a red floral pattern.