It's time to get crafty...

I love festive touches around our home throughout the holidays, and I thought this year I'd buy a couple of nice Christmas-y pillows for the sofa.
Wishful thinking...they were much more expensive than I would've thought!!!!
So I decided to make my own.

Pretty cheery, right?

I am not skilled enough to capture all the sparkles from the teeny tiny sequins in a photograph ~ they're just gorgeous, especially when the lights on the tree are on!!

I began with a small, square pillow form ~ I already had this, but they are just a few dollars at any fabric store ~ and about a half a yard of the shimmery plaid, and a quarter of a yard of the sequined satin

I'm horrible about measuring things, even though I often end up having to re-do things....I guess it will never be in my nature!  I think adding two to three inches to the size of the pillow form would be plenty.
Plaids and patterned fabrics are super awesome because you always have a straight line to cut along!
I decided to make the sequined "stripe" much wider than the plaid ones...

Then I sewed the strips right sides together ~ since the edges are straight, I position the fabric along the edge of the presser foot when sewing (rather than relying on the gauges)
Next I pressed the seams toward the plaid ~ I didn't use steam because the fabric is very delicate, and I moved the iron fairly quickly over the pieces

I laid the sewn piece over the remaining plaid and cut out a square to match the size

 Find a stripe to cut along...  :)

 I check to see if I need to cut off some more fabric before sewing...I didn't

Stitch the plaid sides together, stitch along what will be the top of the pillow, so you will have sewn what looks like a pillow case
Turn right side out

 Insert the pillow form to see how it fits

This time I need to trim the edge a bit so the pillow fits snugly

Turn casing inside out again & stitch along the plaid edges & slightly into the satin (not too far!), back-stitching to stabilize
You are creating the opening that will allow you to insert the pillow form
Since I sew along the presser foot, I don't need to trim the seams
I snip the corners off diagonally to get a clean corner edge & then press lightly before turning right side out

I applied some Fray Check to the plaid to stop the threads from coming undone, let it dry for a couple minutes, and then pressed under the raw edges of both the plaid and the cream satin so when I stitch them together, the edges are nice & neat

DON'T DO EXACTLY WHAT YOU SEE IN THE PHOTO
Or else you'll be removing stitches with the seam ripper like I had to ~ I sewed too far & that puffy little pillow would not fit inside!  Grrrr...
Now of course, I'm getting slightly annoyed, and the clock is ticking ~ I had about ten minutes to finish before meeting up with some girlfriends for dinner, and I was going.to.finish.

Yay, I did it!  Whew!
Girlfriends, here I come!

I was terribly sloppy (hey, I was hungry!) when I sewed the opening ~ I put a dark green thread in the bobbin and kept the cream for the top, pinned the ironed edges together & should have stitched slowly and carefully
You could always do this part by hand as well with a whip stitch or other small stitch
By this point, my kid were acting up, my husband was getting frazzled, and I wanted to get outta here, so I decided to live with the sloppy edge and just remind myself to put that side down where no one will see it  :)

Happy Sewing & Crafting Everyone!

I cannot wait to check out the other great Christmas crafts here...

And meet some new friends here...