I found the fabric for these pillows while we were in New Hampshire in October, during the glorious peak beauty of fall colors on the mountains and reflected off the lakes. We had stayed at the lake house belonging to Dave's brother and wife. The house is On Golden Pond. Actually, it is called Squam Lake, the location where the movie, On Golden Pond, was filmed. The loons had not migrated south yet, or at least some of them had not. There is not much more charming than hearing the operatic calls of loons at night.
When I saw this particular fabric that I used for the pillows, while out perusing fabrics on a rainy day, I knew it was going to be transformed into pillows to line the two large and comfy couches facing each other in my sister-in-law's warm and cozy lake house family room. I was excited about making them and would have done it right there in New Hampshire if I'd had my sewing machine with me.
Once I got back to Maryland where our RV was parked (on a friend's farm), and I could access my sewing machine, I got to work. It was the first time I'd used the trim technique of piping. I'd read about it in one of my sewing books, one of what is now, literally, dozens of books on fabric arts. Most of them are on quilting, but my interests are branching out into embroidery, repurposing fabrics for other purposes besides quilting, dying fabrics, and hooking and braiding rugs... I have a growing collection not only of fabrics, but now of trims and laces and embroidery threads, and of wools, burlap, silks, varying textures and weights. I also just happened to have collections of old piping that came off of upholstered items. I bought those in a fabric warehouse in North Carolina a few years ago, thinking I'd use them on the slipcovers I was going to make for our RV. I didn't end up using them until now. I pulled the cords out of the fabric and repurposed them into the pillow piping using the new fabric I'd purchased for the pillows.
I'm glad I found a purpose for the remnant piping pieces. I knew I would. You might think that buying the cording would be as cheap, maybe, (I haven't priced it) and certainly easier than pulling it out of old upholstery piping. Maybe so. But I like repurposing stuff that could have ended up rotting in a landfill somewhere. I like giving life in new ways to old things. I like the adventure of it all.
I made seven pillows all told. The backs have a solid green. The piping is a contrasted plaid. I just cut the seven pieces for the fronts going from left to right on the long stretch of fabric, content to have each one of the pillows show a slightly different view of the repeating design and not realizing that one of the pillows had only the two buttocks of moose, one on the left and one on the right, as the images faced off of the pillow, literally. My husband noticed that and we had a good laugh. His brother was the first one to notice it when he and my sister-in-law opened the box of pillows, sent to their Connecticut house (to be transported to their lake house on a future weekend).
I bought the pillow stuffing, the internal pillow forms, at Walmart. I know, Walmart is not exactly a place I proudly call my shopping roost, but after finding Jo-Ann's Fabric prices at around $17 per pillow, and learning the hard way that stuffing the pillows with foam or batting-like wads just made them look lumpy, I knew I had to buy the pillow forms. I found them at Walmart for $3-$7 dollars a piece, depending on firmness. I bought some of both.
If you are wondering how I can drag around so many fabric arts books and a growing collection of fabrics and trims (and now some dyes), well, yes, it is kind of becoming a problem. Our friends in Maryland who host us and or RV a couple times a year when we come back to see our kids and grand kids, and to do our dental and medical appointments, indulge us as well, by letting us store stuff in their attic. I have bags of varying sizes of Ziploc-type baggies filled with fabrics and piled in the attic. And dozens of boxes of books. Truth be told, none of those boxes of books have my fabric arts books in them. Those are all still in the RV. I like being able to peruse one or another on a whim. I want them with me. When I'm not actively sewing or blogging or hiking or eating, I am into a book, and often that book has to do with fabric arts of some sort. Life is good.
When I saw this particular fabric that I used for the pillows, while out perusing fabrics on a rainy day, I knew it was going to be transformed into pillows to line the two large and comfy couches facing each other in my sister-in-law's warm and cozy lake house family room. I was excited about making them and would have done it right there in New Hampshire if I'd had my sewing machine with me.
Once I got back to Maryland where our RV was parked (on a friend's farm), and I could access my sewing machine, I got to work. It was the first time I'd used the trim technique of piping. I'd read about it in one of my sewing books, one of what is now, literally, dozens of books on fabric arts. Most of them are on quilting, but my interests are branching out into embroidery, repurposing fabrics for other purposes besides quilting, dying fabrics, and hooking and braiding rugs... I have a growing collection not only of fabrics, but now of trims and laces and embroidery threads, and of wools, burlap, silks, varying textures and weights. I also just happened to have collections of old piping that came off of upholstered items. I bought those in a fabric warehouse in North Carolina a few years ago, thinking I'd use them on the slipcovers I was going to make for our RV. I didn't end up using them until now. I pulled the cords out of the fabric and repurposed them into the pillow piping using the new fabric I'd purchased for the pillows.
I'm glad I found a purpose for the remnant piping pieces. I knew I would. You might think that buying the cording would be as cheap, maybe, (I haven't priced it) and certainly easier than pulling it out of old upholstery piping. Maybe so. But I like repurposing stuff that could have ended up rotting in a landfill somewhere. I like giving life in new ways to old things. I like the adventure of it all.
I bought the pillow stuffing, the internal pillow forms, at Walmart. I know, Walmart is not exactly a place I proudly call my shopping roost, but after finding Jo-Ann's Fabric prices at around $17 per pillow, and learning the hard way that stuffing the pillows with foam or batting-like wads just made them look lumpy, I knew I had to buy the pillow forms. I found them at Walmart for $3-$7 dollars a piece, depending on firmness. I bought some of both.
If you are wondering how I can drag around so many fabric arts books and a growing collection of fabrics and trims (and now some dyes), well, yes, it is kind of becoming a problem. Our friends in Maryland who host us and or RV a couple times a year when we come back to see our kids and grand kids, and to do our dental and medical appointments, indulge us as well, by letting us store stuff in their attic. I have bags of varying sizes of Ziploc-type baggies filled with fabrics and piled in the attic. And dozens of boxes of books. Truth be told, none of those boxes of books have my fabric arts books in them. Those are all still in the RV. I like being able to peruse one or another on a whim. I want them with me. When I'm not actively sewing or blogging or hiking or eating, I am into a book, and often that book has to do with fabric arts of some sort. Life is good.
