You Could Make That: PILLOWS LEAVE GILLYFLOWER COTTAGE

A while back I made a Burlap Subway Sign Lumbar Pillow for a friend who had just moved into Wauwatosa. I also put a similar pillow into my Etsy shop, Gillyflower Cottage.

It's a "Name Your City/Cottage/Lake/Family Name" pillow. Anything goes, really. You can read more about it here.

So here are two that were just ordered - one with a family name and one with a city name.

They were so fun to make!

1. Just sew a narrow strip of fabric (I chose a striped brown linen) to a wider strip of burlap for the front of the pillow. I have three shades of burlap to choose from on Etsy - Natural, Idaho Potato, and Oyster. the fabric strip sewn to the burlap varies to go with the burlap color chosen.

2. Then center your word(s) and stencil away using fabric paint and a stencil brush.

I like to do a practice run on newspaper first so I'm sure to have it centered. Then line it up with your pillow top and duplicate it on the fabric. Don't forget to use a strip of masking/painters tape to keep your lettering even as you go across the pillow.

3. Once you've stenciled the front, cut another piece of burlap the same size as the front. Put right sides together and sew them together. Since burlap likes to ravel, I also do a row of zigzag stitch around that to hold it all together nice and tight. Don't forget to leave about a 10" opening for stuffing the pillow. My pillows are custom sized so they don't fit standard pillow forms. I fill them myself with loose acrylic fiberfill. Just little bits at a time gives you a much more even filling.

4. Then sew the opening closed, and use a thread of your choosing to do a whipstitch around the edge of the pillow. The whipstitch is not necessary but gives a nice finishing touch to the pillow. The size I list is 12" x 28" but these pillows were adjusted at the customers request to fit the name and spot where it will sit.