DIY Easy Sew - Pocket Pillow Cover

I love switching out my decor each season & think that changing out pillow covers is the easiest way to bring a whole new feel into your living room. But with pillow covers being so expensive it can get costly to change them (as I stated in my last pillow case tutorial). When figuring out an easy way to cover my large pillows, I decided to go with an easy sew pocket pillow cover. It takes only one yard of fabric and only requires 3 straight lines of sewing.

I found the wording inspiration for this pillow from Jennifer @ Dear Lillie - The Blog.
Keep in mind: I am no way by any means trying to copy her ideas to sell or re-distribute. I simply just loved the pillow and the verse & wanted to re-create one for my own home & used her beautiful creation for inspiration :)

Kate @ Centsational Girl has a wonderful tutorial on how to sew this easy pocket pillow cover. You can find her tutorial [HERE]

To make the pillow cover, I used one yard of leftover linen fabric from my Halloween banners.
I then measured my pillow from top to bottom. Instead of cutting the fabric (as stated in the tutorial from Centsational Girl) and then sewing, I simply folded the fabric over to the exact measurements of the front of the pillow, leaving the two flaps to overlap in the back. I trimmed the fabric in the back to slightly overlap each other, then hemmed the edge that would show on the outside of the pillowcase. Next, sew down the sides of the pillowcase 1/4 inch in from the edge & turn the pillowcase inside out & then you are done!

After the pillowcase was sewn together, I typed up the wording in my design program, printed it out then placed it inside the pillowcase once it was turned right side out. Because I used linen fabric, you could see the wording right through the fabric. I traced over the wording with a fabric pen, then using regular craft paint, I painted in the words.

There you have it! A simple way to spruce up your pillows!

Ok, so if anyone has been wondering where I have been... I have been finishing up some custom orders that I desperately needed to get done, so I have been a bit behind on my blogging the past few days! I am busy writing up a tutorial for another DIY pillowcase which I will be posting tonight...
To update all of you on what else I have been working on...
Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I am a Craigslist addict
& love searching through antique stores and small local shops.

(Jennifer Price Studio - SoLo Solana Beach)

Here in Southern California we have so many local shops where local artists can display and sell their creations. Turning their hobbies & talents into a business. One of the best things that I love about San Diego and all of it's small little beach towns is searching through their local collaborative stores such as SoLo - Solana Beach where I found an amazing booth put together by designer Jennifer Price - Studio.

I was overwhelmed with all of her amazing finds & would have loved to buy the whole store quite frankly! But instead I walked away with these adorable little state flash cards. One for my Husband's home state (South Carolina) & one for my family's home state (Oklahoma).

& I loved these wooden numbered tags from Jennifer Price as well... I'm thinking I may have to go back and get a few for our Christmas tree this year!

Next, as I was walking up towards the front of the store to check out, I came across a rack of beautiful printed wrapping papers. This one caught my eye and I loved that it looked like an old vintage chalkboard so I quickly snatched it up with a vision to frame it for our home. I think it is perfect for Fall and can use it to change up our decor for "back to school" in the future ;)

If you have never had the pleasure of visiting Cedros Design District in Solana Beach,
I highly suggest that you do! It is a small and quaint little street located just 1/2 mile from the beach, filled with tons of shops and delicious restaurants.

(Leaping Lotus - Solana Beach)

(This booth was amazing! Filled with adorable handmade beach-y frames)

After our shopping trip at SoLo, I headed across the street to Leaping Lotus. Another collaborative artist store, where I picked up this metal "C" monogram letter for $3 & a birdcage card display for $25

Our last stop for the day was the Antique Warehouse. This is one of my favorite & frequently visited locations for many of my finds. There are rows and rows of vendors. It takes a lot of searching, but I always walk away with something. This weeks take-away was this old book, for $4 (top book) which fits perfectly in with the rest of my decor colors!

Another one of my major addictions is Craigslist.com & PendletonYardSales.com (or) Bookoo.com

This is where I find all of my major furniture pieces that I re-finish.

This week's finds are:

Coffee Table $25

Side Table/ Nightstand $15

Trunk/ Chest $10

Entry Table: $35 & Coffee Table: $10

Nightstand $10

Keep posted for further before & after pictures of ALL these great finds!

As I stated in yesterday's post, I have been very busy on our Halloween Decor, so here I am again to share with you all a few more DIY projects!

Have you ever found yourself searching through Pinterest and coming across beautiful vintage book page wreaths? Have you ever thought "Oh, how beautiful!" ..."but how time consuming is it REALLY?" Well, I have found myself thinking the same things. I have always wanted to make one, & it looked simple enough, so I thought I would give it a try!

I took my inspiration from PRIMP and FUNKY JUNK INTERIORS

who have great tutorials on how to do this

First, start off with an old book. My favorite place to find these is at goodwill, a local antique store, or at any book re-sale shop. Luckily I just had this one sitting around the house

Strip off the cover and the binding of the book so that you can peel the pages right off

Start by rolling the bottom edge inward.

Keep rolling, making sure that the bottom of the cone rolls towards the bottom left corner of the page

After you have the cone rolled up, roll the top left corner over to the right.

Glue the top of the page in place.

Give the bottom of the page a slight twist to tighten the cone a little more

For the back of the wreath, I simply cut out a circle from a paper plate

Keep rolling and making more cones until you get something that looks kind of like this

Once you have the number of cones that you need, you are ready to start gluing

Until you get something that looks like this:

back (top photo), front (bottom photo)

For the center, take one book page & fold it accordion style, fold it in half and glue the two sides together. This will create the top of the medallion. Do the same with another page & glue to create the bottom & then you will have a circle!

& here it is, in all it's glory!

Something that I didn't add, is that after I originally finished the first layer of cones, it didn't look finished to me so I went back and added a second row to give it a fuller look

In total this project took a lot longer than I thought, almost 2 hours to complete, but it was worth it! I am now obsessed and plan on making even more for other areas in my home.

& after I was done... I glance over and notice...

that my little one had worn herself out watching Mommy work & was passed out

Oh, how she melts my heart!

& Come back soon for another DIY project:

this

Easy Sew Pocket Pillow Cover

October is finally here & Halloween decorating is in full swing in our household, which means that most days you will find me at the kitchen table crafting away on some new seasonal decor project ;)

The past week I have been busy working on tons of new things to share, so within the next few days I will be bombarding the blog by uploading all of the DIY projects I have been slaving over!

For now, here is a great idea to bring some seasonal spirit into your home that is quick on time & as always fits within budget! Not all of us have hundreds of dollars to spend on seasonal decorations, pillows, etc... to make our homes feel warm and festive as we go from summer to the cool crisp days of autumn. One of the ways to easily change up your space as the seasons come and go, is to switch out the pillow covers. As we all know, pillows can become costly, especially when you are changing them out each season. Even if you are buying them at Wal-Mart, you can still end up spending $9-$12 for one pillow. My Solution: make a pillow cover yourself to slip over the pillows that you already have! You don't need to be experienced at sewing, all you need to know is how to sew a straight line & you are good to go.