Anniversary Throw Pillow (with a tutorial)

Being that today is my 6th Anniversary, I thought that I would make something new from a memento of our wedding.

I have 3 throw pillows that were gifted to Fran and I, they are lovely on their own, but they are white and frilly and they have spent a good part of the past 6 years

building forts (can you spot one of the frilly wedding gift pillow?)


Needless to say,  Eben is outgrowing frill and there is only so much bleaching that can be done to a white case before that it yellows. So, today I decided to make use of some of the 2 yards of heathered blue fleece that I bought over the summer to make a new pillow using the insides of the frilly pillow.

*************************** AND NOW THE TUTORIAL *****************************

 Lay out the fabric you want to use for the new pillow on a flat surface.

 Place the old case over the fabric and measure out the square that you will be cutting, with a marker (subtract the lace from this measurement.)

Cut the square out of the fleece.

Now, if you want to add an applique or some embellishments to one side of the pillow, now is the time to do so.... before you sew the squares together to make the pillow.

I had a thrifted wool sweater that I had felted which I wanted to use this for some leaf embellishments on the new pillow.

 I cut 3 leaves out of the wool and laid them out on the front fleece square to see how I wanted the layout to be.

Then I pinned the leaves into place and sewed them onto the fleece by sewing one line down each of their centers.

With the leaves secured and sandwiched between the 2 layers of fleece.

 

I pinned all around the edge.

 

Then I stitched a 1/2inch seam all the way around the square, leaving a 5 inch opening to stuff.

I turned the pillow right side out, checking for squareness.

 

Then stuffed it with the recycled stuffing from the old pillow to desired softness.

To finish the seam on the end that has the 5 inch opening, I decided to use some green wool yarn and a large needle to blanket stitch along just that side of the pillow.

 I just knotted the yarn at the beginning and the end to keep it secure.

I also wanted to add some yarn to the leaves, so I stitched the yarn from one end of each leaf to the other
and then twisted the long end back to the center of the pillow

where the yarn was knotted and cut.

I did the same with the the other two leaves, but I had a bunch of knotted yarn at the center which wasn't very attractive.

So, I borrowed a wooden button from another thrifted sweater that I had.

 and secured it with the same yarn ( and *sigh* another knot ) into the center of the pillow.

Ta-da, you're all done!  

Did I mention that this is my first tutorial?

I then placed it on Eben's bed,

Where it patiently waited for his Sunday nap.

Something old ( the stuffing )

Something new ( the new pillow )

Something borrowed ( a button )

Something blue ( the fleece )

 In memory of that wonderful day by the lake....