Sweet Muslin and Burlap Pillow Covers

I have just relisted my handmade pillow covers in my Etsy shop. I LOVE the vintage, shabby chic look of these ruffled pillows trimmed with vintage style lace and rosettes. Just picture one of these as a ring pillow for a country, farm or barn wedding. Perfect!

The combination of the soft muslin with the texture of the burlap just gets to me. Love it!
They have envelope style closures on the back side, sewn of muslin. They are 12" square and fit a 12" pillow form, which is NOT included in the listings.

This is a pillow with a stuffed form inside since not everyone has a bolster shaped pillow form.

Ah, Rhett Butler's shirts had this kind of pin pleating and ruffled detail, don't you think?

This white burlap with a white muslin ruffle is pure prettiness. With the lace and buttons and my hand sewn rosettes, it's just so beautiful.


I'm thinking Scarlett O'Hara's trousseau had ruffled muslin detailing like this, don't you?

More burlap and ruffled muslin and french style rosettes. Gorgeous.

Now, this is the detail a pretty nightgown or shirtwaist used to have on it. I love the old dressmaker details!

Smocking gives a texture all it's own, and this pillow cover of burlap and denim is the perfect shabby chic combination.
More sweet ruffled goodness. Lovely! I hand sew each rosette. No glue is used in the construction of these pretty pillow covers.

They look stunning grouped together on my chocolate brown couch. If I had the courage to go with an all white living room, these pillows would be one of the anchors of my decor. Sigh, not with a chocolate lab in the house! But, maybe in our bedroom......

Stop by my Etsy shop and check out the details on these pretty pillow covers. And look at my other listings while you're there, you never know what you will find!

Fun Pincushions For My Craft Room

Here is the sad pincushion I've been using for years and years. I put it together in a hurry and it sure looks like it. But hey, it worked!


Now we've moved and I'm setting up a new studio and I decided that I need something fun and colorful and whimsical that would make me smile. Heck, why only have ONE pincushion? I decided to make several so there would be one at every work station.

I started with a collection of random wineglasses left over from my Parents' 60th Anniversary Dinner Dance. I spray painted them in the colors I've chosen for my creative space...turquoise, red, ivory and black. I cut out muslin circles and sewed various lace trims across them, stuffed them full with polyfill and hot glued them in place. Then I started embellishing. LOVE this rose trim, I've got loads of it.

One of my rosette necklaces draped over the top gave me the direction I wanted to go. So pretty! Great timing, too, as I have just sold this necklace in my Etsy shop.

I haven't hand sewn in a year so I wondered if I could still manage to make rosettes out of 1/4" ribbon. Turns out I can!

Here's how the turquoise pincushion came out; so pretty, frothy, romantic and colorful. LOVE IT!
And here's the red one. Along with the rosettes I added buttons and tulle poofs. Love the heart pins on top!

Gorgeous!

And the black one. I added silvery leaves recycled from a pair of heavy earrings. Perfect accent!



And the tall white one. This one is specifically for threaded needles so the thread can hang down the side and not get tangled with the pins. I added the bit of primitive star garland on a whim and really like it. The muslin rosettes are hot glued, not sewn, and they worked wonderfully.


Here they are all together. When I walk into my crafting space they draw my eye and make me smile. Isn't that how you are supposed to feel when you're feeling creative? Soon I'll have the whole room put together and I'll post a tour.

I'll be linking up to the parties in my sidebar. Come take a look, you will find some wonderful inspiration and projects.

A pretty guest towel

I've said before, I'll pretty much put rosettes on anything, and here I go again. I embellished this pretty blue guest towel and LOVE how it looks, especially with the sand colored towel hanging with it for subtle contrast.

I got this 2 pack of hand towels because the color is gorgeous. It is more blue than green, a really nice shade of turquoise. I knew that burlap and muslin would look great combined with this vivid color.

I like it. I like it alot!

And since God is in the details, here is the way I finished the trims on the back. Simple, clean, elegant.

I pulled out some rosettes and buttons, dug into my bead stash and started having fun.

How pretty is this? The towels cost $1.50 apiece and I already had all the other supplies. Breaking it down dollarwise, the muslin and burlap actual cost was about 15 cents and the buttons and fabric rosettes add maybe another 15 cents to the total...so about $1.80 for a whole lot of decorative bang. I still have one more towel left, should I make it complementary to this one or go in a completely different direction? OR, should I go get more towels and have some fun? Decisions decisions. ;0)

I'll be linking to the fun parties in my sidebar, come join the fun and see what creative bloggers are writing about this week. There are TONS of wonderful ideas out there!

Quick rosette pillow project

I was inspired by some turquoise pillows with yo yos in someone's header and I didn't tag it, darn it all! I'll know it when I see it, trust me, and I'll send her some love. Note-FOUND HER! Jen, the wonderfully creative author of Tatertots and Jello. Go check her blog out, you'll see the pillows I'm talking about. Thanks, Jen!




So I had this sorta boring $1 thrift store pillow on my bed and I decided to "rosette it." I will pretty much put rosettes on anything. I sew the smaller rosettes while half watching TV in the evenings so I have lots on hand. And the bigger rosettes are hot glued. Yup. I told you this was quick!


So I hot glued the rosettes, large and small, added buttons (including some YUMMY turquoise sea shell buttons, just gorgeous) and beads and whatever the heck looked good and had fun. It took less than an hour and I really had to stop before I went too far from "sweet pillow" into "Las Vegas showgirl," you know how that happens. ;0) Oooh, I like it alot! Here she is on my brown couch with her cousins, the bedroom pillows.

Now, I would NEVER, EVER hot glue rosettes or anything else on my projects I sell in my Etsy shop. I hand sew every bit of trim and beading and ribbon to my pillows and necklaces. With hot glue it is too easy for restless fingers to seek out a weak bond and just pull stuff off (I'm looking at you, terrible toddlers and mischievous teens!) But this was a quick and easy, totally spur of the moment project. It was too much fun, too.

Now here's a total surprise. I put Rosie and her blue cousins on my brown couch and look what happened...they picked up the blue in the sky of my poppy painting and kicked up the total style of my couch a notch! So I'm leaving all of them for a day or two and see if I really like that kick. So far, so good. And I'm starting to think a crocheted throw in a nice shade of turquoise would really be nice......

By the way, the little beaded pin tucked turquoise pillow will be another blog post. She deserves it and she's super easy, in a not expensive, crafty way.

Thanks for stopping by!