A Creative Solution = Lovely Pillows!

 

A couple years ago I made a relaxed roman for my kitchen window that I absolutely LOVE!

Of course If I had planned this post a little better I would have taken my photo of the kitchen window a little later in the day when the sun wasn’t so bright, making it next to impossible for my amateur self to capture a decent photo of the space! Geesh!!

 

Just to make things a little easier for you, I’m including a closer up photo so that you can see the beautiful brocade fabric that I made it from. More love!!!

When I was finished making this roman, I packed up the extra material and tucked it away. I find I always save my extra fabric… you too? I also almost always find that I keep it for years and years and years… and usually the remaining fabric never again sees the light of day.

BUT… the day I put THIS lovely fabric away a little twinkling idea had sparked in my mind… I wanted to make matching pillows for the empty bench that also sits in my kitchen. How wonderful would that look? What a terrific way to pull the look around the room!

Well… it took 2 years for me to act on that idea and pull the fabric from my sewing box.

And here it is…

Can you see the problem I was immediately faced with?

The strip of fabric you see is about 8” wide and 45” long. I had 2 of them.

How the heck do you make pillows out of fabric that is 8” wide?! “What’s the problem?” asked my wonderful Brian. So I explained to him that to use this fabric I’d have to sew the 2 panels together… and that would leave an ugly seam down the centre of both sides of each pillow. Yuck!!

The cool thing about talking out loud about this kind of stuff with my husband is that – in the explaining – I often come up with a solution.

And what a solution!!

Have you ever seen Sarah Richardson’s signature pillows? Well… here are some…

Sarah LOVES buttons!

And she loves buttons on pillows.

Well… inspired by Sarah’s fantastic pillows, I would use buttons on my pillows too. What a great way to mask the seams!

I went to my favourite fabric store and purchased some pretty Celtic knot buttons!

I pulled all my materials and tools together…

I set up my sewing machine…

It’s kinda funny… I don’t have a designated sewing space… and I like to watch TV while I’m working… so Brian brought me a large piece of spare wood and created a temporary work table for me by placing it over our twin ottomans (shown above right – another project waiting for me [I want to reupholster them ‘cause they’re ugly!]). The make-shift table shook like crazy when the machine was sewing(!), and it was a little uncomfortable to lean over too while I was working, but it was all good in the end :-)

 

I had LOTS of help from my kitty Shelby who insisted on pressing the fabric. She did a wonderful job!!

Once the cases were sewn, I got to work sewing the buttons in place

When ever I do any hand sewing, I always use my Great Grandmother’s thimble… it’s antique sterling silver and originated in Norway, her birthplace. I love it!!!

And here they are… the finished pillows!!

And here are photos of the pillows in their new home… the bench in our kitchen!!

Project complete!!

I’m sharing the creating of these lovely little pillows with the readers from Funky Junk. Each weekend Donna hosts her the Saturday Night Special blog party and I’m participating! Be sure to make your way back to Funky Junk to check out the other party goer’s DIY projects!

How do you come up with creative solutions? Do you brainstorm like Brian and I often do? Do you seek inspiration from other sources like I did with these pillows? Do you sleep on your dilemma? Share!!