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Monday, March 26, 2012

BURLAP SUBWAY SIGN PILLOW

Yesterday I promised to show you a housewarming gift I've been working on.  So here's a very short little tutorial on how to make a burlap subway sign pillow, perfect for welcoming someone to a new community - along with a link to Gillyflower Cottage just in case you don't want to make it yourself!

Start with fabric paint - especially if you want the pillow to be washable.  I mixed mine with a little white acrylic to tone down the black a bit.
 A small nickel size blob of each color was a just right for two pillows.
Mix it up until you get the color you want.
Meanwhile, it's a good idea to use some painters tape so your letters line up in a straight line.  Here I prepped for two pillows running the city name down the middle.
 I used a 2 1/2" letter stencil.
 A 4" linen strip was sewn to the top of the pillow creating a finished size of approximately 12" by 28".
Use a light hand while stenciling if you want the pillow and name to have a time-worn look.


 After sewing around the edges of the pillow (right sides together), it is reversed, stuffed with fiberfill, and then decoratively whip stitched with one ply twine.


I made two pillows - one as a gift and one to put in my shop.  If you're interested in a subway sign pillow with your city (or family) name, it is available for purchase at my Etsy shop, Gillyflower Cottage.

Now to wrap up this one and hand deliver it to our new Wauwatosa resident - on her BIRTHDAY!




3 comments:

  1. What a wonderful gift... and there really is a place called Wauwatosa... makes for a lovely, long pillow! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That look great.What an awesome gift!
    Anne

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is so beautiful! Love your whipstitch detail!! You have such a lovely style! FYI...I unknowingly was a "no reply" blogger, ...and recently fixed that! Woo hoo! Just another newbie goof, but learning!

    ReplyDelete

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