Scavenger Chic

DIY Americana Pillow

• By Joan
• June 1, 2015
• 13 Comments

Welcome back, I hope everyone had a beautiful weekend.  Here, the weather was absolutely beautiful, great for catching up on a little yard work and soaking up the sun. Had to stay close to home though, as my youngest son, Nathan, started a new job and I was on driving duty.  He has his learners permit and about 40 hours of driving in so far, so hopefully he will be driving himself soon. The early days of white knuckle driving are behind us but I still get a little worried when he says things like “I didn’t see that car” or “I didn’t see that pedestrian.”  I’m also a little worried about his sense of direction, he knows where  absolutely nothing is!  All those years of his head down playing on gameboy or ipads or phones did nothing for his navigational skills.

OK, I know I’m a little late for Memorial Day, but look how much time I’m giving you for the 4th of July.  And…if you have all your materials on hand, you can probably make this patriotic pillow in less than a couple of hours.

Cut a square about an inch and a half larger than your pillow form. My pillow form was 16 inches, my square was 17 1/2″  My fabric… part of a dropcloth from Walmart. It’s not too stiff, it’s off white and the price is right.

With masking tape, mark out the stripes on your pillow.

Water down the red of your choice.  This color is “Barn Red” by Apple Barrel Paints.

The more solid the color you desire, the less you need to water down the paint.  My paint was about two thirds paint and one third water.

Remove the tape you used for the stripes and use new tape to mark out where your field of blue will go.

Printed  and cut out a star from the computer.

I used spray adhesive to attach the star to the pillow.  Don’t just center the star in the square, make sure you leave allowance for the seam on the left and top of the square.

If you don’t have spray adhesive, alternatively, you could print your star out on an oversized sticky label or use contact paper. You could even try your hand at free hand painting. I’m all about using what you have.

Water down a blue paint the same consistency as the red.  This blue was “Dark Knight” by Apple Barrel Paints.

Pull off the star and the tape and you’re ready for sewing.

For the pillow backing,  cut your material about 2 1/2   inches longer than the flag front and the same width.  (17 1/2 x  20) Sew a hem along one end (here I used the finished edge of the dropcloth).  Cut the backing in half (not equally) so that the side with the hem will hit the back of the pillow about halfway up. or about 8 3/4  inches.  The other side will be about  11 1/4″ long.  

Lay down the longer backing piece, overlap with the shorter backing piece with the hem so that the overall square is the same as the front. With right sides together put the painted flag over top of the backing.

Sew all four sides of the pillow. Clip the corners and turn right side out.

I believe this is called an Envelope pillow. The reason I like this style of pillow is (1) I don’t have to do any hand sewing to sew this guy up (2)I didn’t have to buy a new pillow form, I just used one I already had sitting on the couch and switched it out for the season.  Don’t even need a zipper.  For storage, the pillow slipcover will take up no more room than a regular pillowcase. Whenever you get bored, it’s super easy to change out your pillows. Right now, this pillow is in storage for a couple of months.

Isn’t one star so much easier than 50. I bet Betsy Ross was wondering the same thing…you want me to sew how many stars? You’ve got to be kidding me.

Have a fantastic week.

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