sewing – Page 7

Funky Lumbar Leopard Pom Pom Pillow

June 15, 2015February 19, 2015 by KTgreen

I’ve been noting a lot of catalogs and home magazine referencing lumbar pillows.

Lumbar Pillow pottery Barn — Tiger Faux Fur Lumbar Pillow Cover, 16″ x 26″, $49

And what exactly is a lumbar pillow? And why don’t I have one?

I must need one. If I didn’t they wouldn’t be in the catalogs and home magazines.

Is that some kind of circular logic?

I did some research and found them all over pInterest in all kinds of sizes. Even the 12″ x 16″ that I use for the name pillows was pinned as a lumbar pillow. Pottery Barn had numerous sizes. I asked Answer.com and that website said 12″ x 18″. From my extensive research (about 5 minutes) I don’t think that there is any consistent size. But I know I don’t have one and probably need one.

So I made one.

Finished Funky Lumbar Leopard Pom Pom Pillow

First I made a muslin case to stuff fiberfill in. I decided that 12″ x 24″ was a good size. Perfect for my “lumbar” area. That size insert at Pottery Barn is $22.

I was happy to discover a long piece of muslin in my fabric stash so was able to cut one piece of muslin 13” x 49”. (Otherwise I would have cut two 13” x 25” pieces and stitched them together.)

Not going into great detail on this. Fold it, stitch the three sides but leave a fist sized opening to put the fiberfill in. Turn right side out. Stuff with fiberfill. I keep a couple of bags of premium fiberfill in my sewing room because it looks better in the toys I occasionally make.

Funky Lumbar Leopard Pom Pom Pillow — Hmmmm, this might be the back of the package.

When finished stuffing, hand stitch the opening closed.

And, did I mention I’m into pom poms now? I’m blaming the blog i suwanee. One of my favorites. Bright Colors, zebras, fringes, patterns, trims, donkeys but I mostly love the POM POMS.

And another blog that I just stumbled across in blog land said that leopard is a neutral. Really. Just happened to have me some leopard fabric. Which looks great with Pom Poms.

Pom pom and fabric for Funky Lumbar Leopard Pom Pom Pillow

(So am I getting really cool and funky or am I turning into the crazy old lady with pom poms on her hat wearing leopard tights? But those socks are definitely cool. And funky.)

Nevermind.

I’m making an envelope-style pillow case. I’m not putting a lot of detail here, either, because I have featured envelope-style pillow cases many many times. Just click on a “many” and you’ll go to more detailed instructions with pictures if you have questions!

The front is a piece of fabric 13” x 25”. Sew the pom poms on the front piece, 1/2″ from the edge. Use the zipper foot.

front piece with pom poms attached

I would typically use two equal sized pieces for the back (13 x 18) but I’m using up some leopard faux fur I bought for another project. I didn’t quite have enough to make the two pieces. So I cut one piece 13” x 7” and the second piece 13” x 22”.

Hem one of the 13” sides on both back pieces by turning under ½”, stitch, turn under another ½”, stitch.

Note, I usually say PRESS instead of stitch on the first turn under. DO NOT PRESS FAUX FUR! I think it just might melt. Haven’t tried it. But I’m heeding the warnings.

Faux fur is also slippery so I basted the larger piece on to the front first just to be safe. Right sides together, the unhemmed 13” side even with one of the 13” sides on the front., checked it out, then basted the smaller side on.

back of pillow before turning

Turned the pillow right side out and made sure all my pom poms and the corners were okay. Better taking the extra step then ripping out stitching.

Then I stitched all four sides again. Clipped corners. Turned right sides out, poked the corners so they’d be pointy and stuffed that pillow form inside.

Finished Funky Lumbar Leopard Pom Pom Pillow

Voila!

Funky Leopard Pom Pom Pillow, envelope style pillow cover — Ready for my Lumbar.

Funky lumbar leopard pom pom pillow.

DIY Pillow Case for Small Pillow

February 12, 2015 by KTgreen

Last week I made an adorable pillow case with a tutorial from A Spoonful of Sugar.

Adorable Pillow Case with Timeless Treasures fabric and Kaufman Essex Linen — DIY Adorable Pillow Case

This week I’ve changed it up a bit. I’ve been making a series of “Name” pillowcases for our grandkids. Last year I made them for Riley, Piper and Jack.

Name Pillow for Jack

I decided to adapt the pillow created by A Spoonful of Sugar to the 12″ x 16″ size for two of our granddaughters. I also wanted the seams to be “clean”. I don’t have a serger so even though I zigzag the raw edges, the seams still look raggedy and get worse with each washing.

This is what I made:

Pillowcase with finished seams for 12" x 16" pillow forms, Adorable Pillow Case with Timeless Treasures fabric and Kaufman Essex Linen — Name Pillows for Addison and Kendall

And this is how I did it!

Directions for a pillowcase for a 12” x 16” pillow with finished seams.

I used three different fabrics. The mermaid and pink dotted are from Timeless Treasures and the white name piece is Kaufman Essex Linen Blend.

CUT

Name Piece: one 3″ x 13 ½” white fabric

Cuff: one 8 ½” x 13 ½” pink dot fabric

Front: one 13 ½” x 14 ½” mermaid fabric

Back: one 13 ½” x 23 ½” pink dot fabric

NAME PIECE

Fold strip of white fabric in half lengthwise and press.

name strip for DIY Pillow Case for Small Pillow

I had planned to hand embroider the name but it’s not one of my better skills so I went with the letters on my sewing machine. I put the fold of the strip against the 5/8″ seam mark. Every model will be different.

Name piece for DIY Pillow Case for Small Pillow

CUFF

With right sides together, take the pink cuff fabric and stitch it to the name piece on the top and bottom using a ¼” seam.

Cuff attached to name piece

Turn right side out. Press so there is one inch of pink above name. The cuff should be 4 ½”.

Embellish with zigzag stitching and top stitch bottom edge.

FRONT

Take front piece of mermaid fabric. Hem one 13 ½” end by pressing under ½” then another ½” and then stitch.

Put wrong side of cuff against wrong side of hemmed edge of front.

Stitch together with ¼” seam.

Turn to the right side.

Press. Top Stitch.

BACK

Hem one 13 ½” end by pressing under ½” then another ½” and then stitch.

Attach back to front by putting wrong side of front to wrong side of back. The front piece short end will be lined up with the back piece unhemmed short end.

Front and Back — I’m calling the extra section that extends out the “flap”.

Stitch ¼” around two sides and bottom.

Clip corners

Turn wrong side out. Now the fabric is right sides together.

Poke the corners out and press.

Press under ¼” on sides of the flap.

Fold the flap over the cuff.

Stitch ½” on the two sides and bottom. Leave the top end open.

DO NOT TRIM CORNERS!

Turn right side out. Press.

DIY Pillow Case for Small Pillow — Clean Finished Seams!

Stick the pillow form inside.

And the gratuitous Maggie shot…

Three more pillows to make. Hmmmm, Adley is only 6 months old, wonder if she’d mind a cute pillow with pink pigs?

DIY Adorable Pillow Case

February 5, 2015 by KTgreen

Is this cute or what? That little teddy sitting on those adorable pillow cases.

I’ve had this idea pinned for quite some time. Besides loving that fabric, I like that the cuff of the pillow case wraps the pillow. Looks so “custom”.

I wanted to make the pillow case to fit 12″ x 16″ pillow forms. I’ve made three “name” pillows for Riley, Piper and Jack and still need to make some for Addison, Kendall, Courtney, Justin and Adley. (Whoops, looks like I need to get another pillow form.) I thought this version might be a fun idea.

Pillow forms

The instructions are fairly simple from www.aspoonfulofsugar.com but I couldn’t get my head wrapped around changing the size from a full-size bed pillow to the 12″ x 16″ size. I can usually draw and figure out the dimensions but after spending way too long trying to calculate the exact measurements, I decided to just make the full-size pillow so I could understand the directions from A Spoonful of Sugar.

I had this fabric:

Pillow fabric — The mermaids and polka dot fabrics are from Timeless Treasures. The white fabric is Kaufman Essex linen blend.

This was a really quick project. I had already cut the fabric out on Tuesday and when I got home after volunteering at the animal shelter, it took me about 1/2 hour to sew it all together. Seriously. It took longer to take the pictures! And a whole lot more time to put all of these words here.

pillow case So here’s the finished full-size pillow:

DIY Adorable Pillow Case, Timeless treasures fabric, Kaufman Essex linen fabric I need to make at least one more. Maybe two. I have three granddaughters that are just at the right age to LOVE mermaids. And if they have a slumber party at my place they will all want their own mermaid pillow!

DIY Adorable Pillow Case, Timeless treasures fabric, Kaufman Essex linen fabric

I followed the instructions from A Spoonful of Sugar It’s quite easy. The only question I had was about the seam allowance. The tutorial doesn’t mention what it should be so I went with 1/2″. Seams are supposed to be finished with an overlock stitch on a serger but I don’t have one of those so just zig-zagged all the raw edges. I hate unfinished seams so I plan to try to make the next version with something like a french seam.

And the ultimate goal is to get the pattern re-sized for the smaller version and put some names on them. So much to do, so little time!