Using What I Have Celebration

 I have an iron clad rule: no buying Christmas decorations until I finish Christmas shopping and I am not quite finished.  So nothing new for me though I did see something I just longed to have last Wednesday.  Even if I had been finished with my gift buying I'd have hesitated over the price of those two items...but you know, there's nothing like wanting something new to make you even more tired of what you were already tired of using for Christmas decorations, lol.

A few years ago I wanted to go glitzy/glamorous with my tree and it was just beautiful.  But in the past year or so I've been trying to change over my rooms to better reflect the beauty of a farmhouse home.  I've made good progress, but the tree stayed the same.  This year I mean to change things up with my Christmas decor and because I am frugal and get such a kick out of 'making do' as Granny used to call it, I've been looking for ideas that I can use.

Simply Southern At Heart posted a photo of a cute Christmas pillow on their Facebook page the other day and immediately I knew this was something I could do for my own home.  It plays in well with my natural farmhouse theme. This design is NOT my own, nor original to me, but it is my variation on a similar look.



I happened to have two pillows in the living room that have a zippered cover.  I decided to use the pillow forms from those pillows and so mine measure 16X24.  All the fabric came from my stash, small as it is.  The muslin was bought at a thrift store for $2.  I cut it so that I could make an envelope back to slip the forms into. The red fabric and the gold woven damask fabric were curtain panels once upon a time.  The brown trunks are from the bottom edge of a brown sheet that I used as drapes in my living room.  The green chino was given to me by a friend when she sorted through her stash. These pillows ended up costing me about $.50 (I used only a small portion of the muslin).

Being the sort who tends to cut first and read instructions later, I plowed right ahead with my trees, so I really can't give instructions on how I did it.   I chose to applique my trees.  They can be ironed on with fusible web or glued on with fabric glue.

I cut my muslin to size first, then cut out the trees and trunks and laid them out on the pillow fronts.  I didn't want them to look exactly the same and I decided that three trees per pillow suited me best.  Before I began the applique process I laid out the pieces on my pillow front piece:

I wanted to be sure they would fit properly. I just used a simple zigzag stitch to applique the pieces onto the pillow front.  Nothing fancy with my little basics machine.  I didn't go for perfection.  I left the edges raw so that at some points it will slightly fray in that are.

I cut envelope style backs for the pillow, as I find that the easiest to make.  I measure the halfway point then add four inches...Well I did on the second pillow.  I was a little shy on my measurements for the first pillow and it doesn't meet as nicely in the back.  I hemmed the opening edges first, then laid right sides together overlapping the back pieces and sewed down both sides and then the ends.  I am sure there is a great tutorial.  I got in a hurry and forgot to take pictures of all my process.  That's me altogether.  I mean to show how I do things and I get so excited to be working on my project that I want to see the finished product and forget to take photos!

I finished one pillow on Saturday then my bobbin assembly went screwy and I couldn't get it to work.  I know to quit when things start going bad with sewing and walk away.  Mistakes abound and frustrations rise when you don't.  I fixed the problem, assembled and finished sewing the pillow cover in under a half hour Sunday afternoon.

My finished products:

I'm really pleased with the way these pillows turned out and while I intend them to be for Christmas at the moment, I noted after tossing a finished filled case on the guest bed that the colors perfectly match that room...I foresee using these through winter in the guest room after Christmas.