Silk and scrap mishmash pillow

Silk and scrap mishmash pillow

• 10.17.2011

A while back at Goodwill Outlet I found a cool piece of fabric that reminded me of those cool Guatemalan bags and wall hangings and blankets; not sure where it's from but it's definitely an import of some kind.  It was a weird shape, but I brought it home, and rediscovered it the other day when I was looking for materials to make a new pillow cover for an oddly shaped pillow.

The funky homespun piece became one side of this pillow--check it out!

And, for the other side, I wanted something that didn't match but had the same feel.  I've done Anthro-ey pillows before, and have lots of fun digging through old project scraps for the pieces, and did it again for this guy.  I found some bright solid colored fabrics I liked, and striped them like a color block look, and then added details using pretty much the same technique as I did in this tutorial (on top of a big muslin rectangle to keep everything reinforced).  Silk flower appliques from silk scraps onto a pillow, with the zigzag stitch on the edges to keep it from fraying (and because it looks sort of cool).

I made both sides as separate rectangles, put the zipper in, and sewed the front and back together.  And voila!  Fun pillow that used up small pieces and brightens the room!

And it's all reused/recycled pieces from stuff I had laying around.  Scrap-busting and using vintage pieces.

Aren't pillows the best??  So fast and easy and fun to make!