Cocoa Pie: Finish - Pillow Covers

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Finish - Pillow Covers

I have had some sad pillows on my couch waiting to be redressed for about a year now.

Actually, these pillows have been on my couch for about 5 years now, and I have never loved them in all that time.

When I originally bought my couch, they came with some generic (UGLY) pillows that I immediately gave away to a friend who was willing to take them. That left my couch a little bare, and I guess I just didn't have the time at that point to do anything crafty about it, so I went to the store and picked up some slightly-less-generic (and down-filled - because I love the shape and squishiness of down-filled) pillows to dress it up a bit until I could do something with them that was a little more "me".

Like I said, that was FIVE years ago.

Then about one year ago, I decided it was time, and I went out and bought some fabric specifically for these pillows. Aaaaand...I immediately put it on a shelf in my closet and forgot about it. Except for the times when I would look at my couch and think, "UGH. I really need to do something about those pillows."

Well, apparently I finally decided to get serious about it and made a wonky log cabin block with the intention of turning it into a pillow cover for this particularly beat-up looking pillow. (I wish I had taken a before photo!)

After that one was finished it took no time to make the pillow covers for the larger pillows (the blue and green flors/paisley behind the pieced one), since they were basically just fabric envelopes. No piecing or quilting on those. Easy!

I quilted it with a variegated green thread that my husband put in my birthday pinata. (Yes, my husband made a pinata for my birthday filled with picked-by-him sewing supplies...Sweet, eh??)

I honestly didn't know if I would ever use that thread, but it worked perfectly for this pillow!

For the quilting I just did a simple square spiral following the block strips starting in the center, and 1/2 inch straight lines down the sides.

And here are the pillows together on their new home. MUCH better...although now I am definitely thinking there is room for another pieced pillow somewhere on that couch :)