When my husband and I got married, a hodge podge of both households ended up in one, and our bedroom wasn't cohesive or relaxing or anything like what I wanted our bedroom to be. Instead of our room being a quiet haven to escape to, it was an over cluttered, haphazard, unmatching nightmare. (ok ok...that is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get my point)
I wanted an open, airy feel to our new room. While my husband was out of town for work, I ditched our oversized, dark furniture (bookshelves, four poster bed...) and opened up the space with smaller furniture and a neutral color palette. Think taupes, off whites, robins egg blue and yellow. Oh, I love it. I LOVE it. I could spend every waking moment in my bedroom. (I don't, I promise...)
As part of the new decor, I added a bunch of throw pillows to the bed and to our little reading corner. I think it's a girl thing - my husband cannot understand my throw pillow obsession. My couch pillows all end up shoved in a basket because they annoy everyone. But, on my bed I can display my pretty collection of pillows!
I have seen a bunch of burlap projects floating around, so I knew I wanted to try making a burlap pillow for the bedroom.
I have never sewed with burlap before and I wasn't sure it would turn out well. I had all kinds of plans and thoughts in my head on how to get the stitches to hold - I thought for sure they would slide out of the burlap fabric and pull loose. I was contemplating a french seam. I was contemplating hand stitching. I was contemplating thicker thread, a bigger needle, etc etc etc.
I shouldn't have worried! Burlap is easy to sew - the most difficult thing about this project was sweeping up the obnoxious burlap "fuzz" that made its way all over my kitchen! So, without further adieu...
Gather your supplies. For this project you will need:
- 2 pieces of burlap cut to the size of the pillow you want (ie. 16x16, 18x18)
- Stencil of your choice
- Fabric paint
- Paint brush or roller
- sewing machine (or, if you are patient, I guess you could hand stitch)
Once you've cut your burlap into squares, sew the sides and top - I did a really simple straight stitch and it is holding great. Turn the pillow case inside out.
Then, apply your stencil. I used my Cricut again so I could get a stencil that would stick to the fabric. Once the stencil is on your burlap, you'll want to make sure you slide something in between the 2 layers of fabric so the paint doesn't bleed onto the other side of the pillow. I sacrificed this month's InStyle magazine and got paint all over poor Katy Perry. (Whatever, her hair is pink - a little turquoise paint on her face hardly makes a difference)
When the paint felt dry, I peeled the stencil off and had a pretty stenciled pillow case staring back at me! Now, you can stuff the pillow case with another pillow or a pillow form and whip stitch it closed by hand. If you feel really motivated you can add a zipper, but I was not about to tackle adding a zipper on my very first attempt with burlap!
I wanted an open, airy feel to our new room. While my husband was out of town for work, I ditched our oversized, dark furniture (bookshelves, four poster bed...) and opened up the space with smaller furniture and a neutral color palette. Think taupes, off whites, robins egg blue and yellow. Oh, I love it. I LOVE it. I could spend every waking moment in my bedroom. (I don't, I promise...)
As part of the new decor, I added a bunch of throw pillows to the bed and to our little reading corner. I think it's a girl thing - my husband cannot understand my throw pillow obsession. My couch pillows all end up shoved in a basket because they annoy everyone. But, on my bed I can display my pretty collection of pillows!
I have seen a bunch of burlap projects floating around, so I knew I wanted to try making a burlap pillow for the bedroom.
(This pin is from Mrs. DIY and the Tennis Guy and the tutorial for the above pillows. I read several tutorials on stenciling burlap and then just did my thing. I didn't follow any tutorials specifically for this project.)
I shouldn't have worried! Burlap is easy to sew - the most difficult thing about this project was sweeping up the obnoxious burlap "fuzz" that made its way all over my kitchen! So, without further adieu...
Gather your supplies. For this project you will need:
- 2 pieces of burlap cut to the size of the pillow you want (ie. 16x16, 18x18)
- Stencil of your choice
- Fabric paint
- Paint brush or roller
- sewing machine (or, if you are patient, I guess you could hand stitch)
Once you've cut your burlap into squares, sew the sides and top - I did a really simple straight stitch and it is holding great. Turn the pillow case inside out.
I used turquoise and brown fabric paint mixed together. I knew I didn't want the turquoise to be super bright and the addition of brown helped.. Then, you just paint right onto the burlap. I used a 1" paint brush, but you could also use a roller. I did a few layers and then let it dry in the sun for 2 hours.
I love the way it looks on our bed! And my husband pointed out that the you & me words help us remember who sleeps where, should we ever forget. Ahem. Hilarious.
I can already see all these pillows ending up on the floor very, very soon...ah, well!
