Wednesday, August 25

Inspired by Pottery Barn: pillow tutorial


The other day I was browsing through my mother's button box when I came across these beauties:



I'm betting they were from a coat back in the 1970's. Who knows? But they were nice, big wooden buttons, so I pulled them out and wondered what I could do with them. A few days later, I got my newest Pottery Barn catalog, and found wonderful pillows created with--you guessed it--buttons!

I just loved those pillows with all their buttony cuteness.  And the fabric from which they were made reminded me of canvas. You know, this kind:




Game on.

The dimensions of the Pottery Barn pillows are 16" x 26", so I cut two rectangles 18" x 28" from my dropcloth. (I always add one inch to each side of my fabric whenever I sew anything. My sewing skills are very elementary, and allowing that one inch seam allowance keeps things simple.)

To create the look of the front of the Pottery Barn pillow, I cut a third panel of fabric 25% shorter than the others, but I added a couple of extra inches to fold under, so that panel was 18" x 23". I folded one end under two inches and pressed it, creating a panel 18" x 21".



See the short panel on top of the long panel?


This panel I placed on top of one of the other panels and pinned it in place, then sewed a straight seam about 1 1/2 inches from the fold. This created one panel to be the front of my pillow. (Note: I am not a good seamstress, but I'm a darn good pinner. Click here to see a pretty shower curtain I made via careful pinning and dismal sewing.)


Once those two pieces were sewn together, I simply took my front and back panels, put them right sides together, and sewed straight seams down the sides. I left a good-sized gap in the bottom for stuffing the pillow. (Click here for a pillow-making tutorial.) Then I turned my pillow cover right side out and pressed it.


And then for the fun part: adding the buttons! I used a tape measure and placed four buttons evenly along the front of the pillow. I used a pencil to make dots on the fabric where the buttons would go. (I just poked the pencil tip right through the button's holes to mark the place).

See the pencil marks?


Now it's starting to look like the real thing!

When the pillow case was all finished, I stuffed an old bed pillow in it and closed up the gap at the bottom.

Voila! A brand-new Pottery-Barn-inspired pillow, all made of materials I had on hand!



What do you think?


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For other great projects inspired by Pottery Barn, check out the The Pottery Barn Challenge at The CSI Project. And for lots and lots of pillows, don't miss the The Pillow Challenge at The CSI Project. Those CSI girls really know how to round up great projects!


The Lettered Cottage



39 comments:

  1. Very nice and for a fraction of the price too!!
    Love it!!

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  2. I love Pottery Barn and your knock off is great for a fraction of the cost!

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  3. I am a long time PB pillow lover. I love your knock off. It's perfect!

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  4. Too cute! I've got a mess up on curtains from "yes, you know what" drop cloths. They were from Lowe's instead of Home Depot, they have the seam running cross-ways. So, thanks to you now I can not let it go to waste. Make pillows! They are precious, girl.
    Thanks for the inspiration!

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  5. They turned out GREAT! I adore those buttons! I've been wanting to make some pillows out of drop clothes too. Glad to know yours turned out sooo cute! Love it!

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  6. Oh, I love it, Richella!! I've held onto an extra drop cloth for months now with the intention of making pillow covers for my couch pillows, but have been too nervous about it. (Not sure about the closure) You did a great job!

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  7. What do I think? I love it. You are both creative and inspiring! :)

    Sandy
    Reluctant Entertainer

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  8. Yep - a perfect tutorial! And I love the way you aged the terra cotta pots below!

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  9. I just found your blog! Wonderful!! I love the pillows. Oh how I wish I could sew. Very inspiring!

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  10. Very nice job. Great use of some cool buttons.

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  11. Cute! I might even try this one. I don't sew, but it sounds fairly simple.

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  12. Very Cute! I love those old buttons.

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  13. That is gorgeous! Looks to me like you're a pretty good seamstress!

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  14. Fabulous! Aren't you glad that your mom saved those buttons? I think that you've inspired me to make drop cloth pillows!

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  15. i bet you could guess my favorite parts of this post... but i won't make you :)
    1. that you have your mama's button box (oh, i love a button box!)
    2. taht you have now used buttons from that box and are enjoying a bit of your mom's stuff everytime you look at your new pillows!
    love you!

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  16. I love pillows a lot and good for you to tackle such a project. They look good:)

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  17. Wow with the creativity this week :) Love the pillow. I bought some drop cloths this summer for my back patio but never got them up :-/ One of these days.... or perhaps I should make pillows too!

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  18. Your pillow turned out great! Love those buttons! Didn't the coats from years ago have great buttons?

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  19. Think of the money you saved! Oh, to be able to sew!

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  20. Amnazing job! Richella you truly created an exact copy but even better beacause you made them. They are just gorgeous.

    Have a great week sweet friend!~Melissa :)

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  21. You are AMAZING!!!!! So glad I stopped in to see you! I love that pillow...and you made it look just as pretty! I have missed visiting you! I hope you pop in for a visit sometime soon...Hugs, Meme

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  22. You did a great job on that pillow. I just love those drop cloths. Cheap and nice fabric.

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  23. Love that pillow! I think I'm gonna have to copy! It looks so easy to make! Great Job!!

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  24. I like it, that's what I think! I did something real similar as I admired those pillows myself! Check it out:http://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/2010/02/i-can-do-that.html

    I love the natural color in yours - gonna go buy drop cloths one of these days!

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  25. Gonna have to make myself one of those! Thanks for the tutorial. :)

    Sarah

    P.S. Looks soooo nice!

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  26. What do I think?
    Amazing! that's what. Way to go and thanks so much for sharing.

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  27. Wow! That looks soooo good! I love it!

    Manuela

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  28. Love the pillows and I can see them fabric paint stenciled perhaps for a different look.

    Shoot! I do not need another project! lol

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  29. Richella,
    I am sorry I am just getting to see this post. I have been having computer issues!
    Your pillow turned out perfectly, and I love that you used those old buttons. That pillow is priceless in my book.
    Love the drop cloth too! Go girl!
    Traci

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  30. I just wanted to stop by and let you know that I linked to this post today from the new Home & Garden channel at Craft Gossip. :) My hope is to share many of the fabulous projects I see everyday with the vast CG audience. I hope you will not only stop by and subscribe to CG, but will tell your friends about the new category! Hope you see some traffic from it!

    Your feature will appear in the main Craft Gossip RSS feed, on the main home page and can be found directly here
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/?s=pb+inspired

    If you would like a "featured by" button, you can grab one here!
    http://homeandgarden.craftgossip.com/grab-a-craft-gossip-button/

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  31. That is so pretty and I love how easy it is! I just clicked over from Craft Gossip and I'm so glad I did. I would love to link to this if you didn't mind.

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  32. DANNIE, said,

    love love love your pillow. great job and well done!! Keep up the good work. I love this site the most. see you-all soooon

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  33. I love how well your pillows turned out!

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  34. How come I just now saw this? I love them!!!!!!!!!!!!

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  35. You could also make this pillow using an envelope style flap closure on the back. you would put button holes on the upper portion of the flap and buttons on the under side prior to sewing the front panel to the back.

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