At the beginning of the Stay At Home order, I felt the need to clean. That lasted about 2 weeks, then my focus turned to recipes and obsessing over what I could cook with what I could actually find at the grocery store. While I'm still cooking, I'm kind of over it. Now, my focus has turned to sewing. In the last week I have made a slipcover for a couch, a new cover for our window seat cushion, a table topper, and now I am in the throws of pillow making. I can't really explain it, except I'm doing whatever keeps my hands and thoughts occupied. Don't get me wrong, I'm a habitual nester and LOVE to be at home, but I'm starting to feel anxious about the trickle down effects of the coronavirus, which obviously is beyond my control. Sewing takes time and concentration, plus you have the added bonus of creating something and thus a feeling of productivity and accomplishment. It's therapy and a win, win for me!!
A couple of weeks ago I introduced one of the new fabrics for our playroom/sunroom when I shared how to make a simple table topper/square.
I had plenty of fabric leftover as my plan has always been to make new pillows to replace the old blue ones that have occupied our window seat for YEARS.
I removed the cover with a seam ripper as I wanted to reuse the pillow forms. By the way, Ikea is a great place to purchase inexpensive down pillow forms. They also have a poly fill option, which is even less expensive. Without looking, I think the down are around $12 for the 26x26 ", which is what these are.
Because the form is 26x26", I cut my fabric 27x27". I like plenty of seam allowance, especially when I'm going to have to sew it closed. Because these will be used seasonally , I had planned to put a zipper in them, but unfortunately Walmart didn't have any and due to the virus, I did not want to go to JoAnn's.
The color is a bit off here and I have no clue what that spot is in the fabric, but for the piping, I cut a 2" strip out of this blue and white ticking fabric that I also ordered for the sunroom.
And because our Walmart does not carry plain cording, I bought this 50 foot Clothesline for $1.88. I have used it on every project recently, and I must admit it works just fine and is a fraction of the cost of "true" cording.
On low heat, I ironed the clothesline as it does come out of the package with some kinks in it.
I measured out enough piping for two pillows and made one long continuous piece. For a more detailed tutorial on how to make custom piping see this post.
With right sides together, pin the cording in between the front and back of the pillow cover. A good rule of thumb is to always make sure your raw edges are going in the same direction.
At the corners, make cuts so that your piping can easily curve. Stitch all 3 layers together leaving a large enough opening at the bottom to place your pillow through.
When finished, cut diagonally at the corners and trim seam allowances.
Press open seam allowances, turn inside out and stuff the pillow form through the opening.
Pin together and then stitch closed the opening. Here I show where part is pinned and part is sewn. Again, I would have preferred to put in a zipper, but it was not to be.
One pillow down and one more to go and then both will find their home on the window seat.
I will say that as we all continue to maneuver through these uncharted waters, I am learning things about life and myself. There are concessions to be made, and I am flexible enough and resourceful enough to make them. I'm learning to get by with what I have and what's readily available, and that's not such a bad thing.