Fall Farmhouse Tea Towel Pillows

 

It's almost fall, ya'all! What better way to celebrate the season of cool breezes, crisp apples, colorful leaves and plump pumpkins than with some cozy farmhouse style pillows?

Step 1: Tea Towels

I bought some awesome white towels from Walmart in the kitchen towel section. They are Mainstays

brand Flour Sack Towels in white. The fabric has an awesome farmhouse look and feel. The first step is to IRON your towel. They are very wrinkly, which isn't a bad thing since the look I was going for was casual, but I wanted my image transfer to be crisp.

Step 2: CitraSolv

There is a handy, delicious smelling orange cleaner out there called CitraSolv. It is heavenly! And it's awesome for transferring inkjet printed images onto fabric! **This transfer method does not work with laser printers. Only inkjet. Grab a little glass jar and a small housepaint brush for this.

Step 3: Print your picture... backwards!
I always mess up this step. I printed the entire image on four different sheets of paper before I realized I had forgotten to flip it. I use Photoshop to create a document the same size as my pillow. (In this case, around 22x22 inches). Then I crop each section to fit an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and print them, line them up and tape them. I'm sorry if this is confusing. You may want to start with an image that can fit a standard sheet of paper... just don't forget to flip it backwards! If you don't have Photoshop, you can do this in MS Word by inserting Word Art, choosing Rotate and Flip Horizontal. You can do it with pictures, too.

Step 4: Transfer the image.
Once you have your (backwards) image place it on the tea towel so the ink is touching the fabric. Make sure it's centered. Tape the corners in place. Then lightly brush the CitraSolv onto the back of the image. Use a tablespoon to rub the image and transfer it to the fabric. After rubbing the entire image, gently lift it to be sure it transferred. It's very difficult to line it up again. I've never been successful doing it.


Step 5: Sew & stuff your pillow! And then repeat and make a few more! :)



 

 

 

 

The files for these designs are available on my Etsy shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MyPorchPrints

 

Resize as needed and remember to FLIP them so they are backwards before you print! :)

 

 

Makin' Sweaters into Pillows

Maybe you've seen them. Those awesome Pinterest pins of cozy winter rooms. A fireplace glowing and crackling. The mantle perfectly arranged with knick knacks. There is a plush white sofa and a chippy coffee table with a tray of steaming cocoa cups loaded with whip cream and sprinkles. A faux fur throw is draped artfully over one arm of the sofa and nestled in each corner is an awesome pillow that looks like your favorite sweater.

I admit it. Pinterest is a source of jealousy for me. I don't like to covet, but I just HAD to have those sweater pillows.

I don't know what they cost at the store. They're probably not all that much. But being a DIY-er means blood, sweat and tears, baby! We don't buy pillows at Pottery Barn. We MAKE them!

Or we die trying!

So, I was at a local thrift store, browsing the sweater section and WOW. They had LOTS of sweaters that fit the bill for a nice, cozy, wintery pillow. I grabbed two that I liked (size XL... I recommend larger if you want anything even remotely cuddle-sized). They were a nice, warm vanilla ice-cream color that is pretty much my favorite color for ANYTHING in decorating.

I also purchased two ugly, ruffly 80s pillows for less than three bucks. I needed a filler pillow, and these frilly guys were NEVER going to find a home unless I took them.

I brought my sweaters home and proceeded to chop them up with the enormous fabric scissors my hubby unearthed for me in the basement... or the "underhouse" as I like to call it. These primitive metal blades are like fine weaponry for a seamstress. They hacked through those thick, knitted sweaters like a hot knife through butter. You will want good scissors for this because bad ones will leave you with a pile of loose threads.

Once I got a roughly square-shaped couple of pieces, I took them to my sewing machine and made quick work of 3.25 sides. I left a gap on that fourth side big enough to stuff my dismantled pillow into. Then, many, many days later (because I'm a procrastinator), I hand-sewed that fourth side shut.

The results weren't quite as majestic as I had hoped. The pillows are a bit wonky, but they are certainly cuddly... and cute enough to pull out at Christmas-time and through the bleak January-February months. They will likely go away in the springtime and come back before the turkey is cold on Thanksgiving.

The biggest lesson I took away from this is that an XL sweater does not make a very large pillow. I think next time I'll look for a bigger filler pillow and maybe try to use the WHOLE sweater, sans arms.

But otherwise, I kinda love these cozy little guys. How 'bout you?

 

Want more home projects?

Check out my blog post about making your home look like your Pinterest Boards:

A Few Winter Projects

Well, it's been a long, cold winter, and I haven't had much opportunity to work on the Porch. Still, I've managed to complete a few indoor projects. Since I don't have much time to write about them, I will skip to the good stuff and post some photos!

Faux Grain Sack Pillows: I used the CitraSolv method to make
these, and they turned out SO pretty!

Family Name Window. Hand-painted.

Yes, another makeover display hutch.
LOVED the detailed
molding on the top! Beautiful!